The Darkest Night
by Shawn30
Summary: The Final Chapter. Casualties mount as the Rangers fight to the death to stop Crysis once and for all! Zordon's darkest secrets are revealed. A.U.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: "The Darkest Night"**  
**Written by: Shawn Chapter 1/1**

**Summary: A mysterious new enemy slaughters Lord Zedd, forcing Zordon to break the Code of the Rangers in order to protect the Earth. Tommy and Kimberly navigate the emotional waters of their recent breakup. AU.**

**Category: Angst/Romance/Drama/Violence/Love Making/Death Rating: MA **

**Timeline/Spoilers: AU from the moment Jason, Trini, and Zack go to the Peace Conference. In this story they don't leave the team, but Adan, Aisha, and Rocky join as Rangers. Jason and Tommy co-lead the team. This story picks up a year later during the time of Power Rangers Zeo, only Zeo never happened. The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers are Tommy, Kim, Jason, Trini, Zack, Billy, Aisha, Rocky, and Adam.**

**Disclaimer: Disney owns it all now. I own the right to make PR a bit more adult, a bit more serious, and a bit more dramatic.**

**Authors Notes: The mental image I want my readers to have of the Rangers outfits, Zords, and Angel Grove is in line with Mighty Morphing Power Rangers: The Movie. The outfits will be the body-armor type and the city is big, bright, and more what you would expect from a real city instead of what's portrayed on the TV show. Expect a more serious approach to protecting the Earth and how Zordon commands the team.**

**Authors Notes 2: All Rangers are 18 and the story is set near the end of their senior year of High School.**

**Dedicated to: SYuuri aka Liz the Great:)**

**"If it is meant to be, our hearts will find each other when we meet. And if our hearts melt together so will our bodies and souls. Then every word and every touch will fuel our passion flame. I will be yours, you will be mine, and we will be one." - author unknown**

**"Be patient wild eyes. Soon will come a storm to tame you. Let her winds surround you. Match her fury and let fires reign. There is no escape. Nature means what she does." - author unknown**

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**The Command Center Zordon's War Room **

**Tuesday, April 6, 1997 7:30 PM **

**The mountains of Angel Grove**

"To say I am disappointed in both of you would be quite the understatement."

Sighing quietly, Kim ran a frustrated hand through her shoulder-length brown tresses while seated next to her ex-boyfriend and team leader. Clad in her post-mission Grey sweats, her right foot impatiently tapped over the granite floor in the Power Rangers newly official War Room. It took three dozen Aquitar engineers over nine months to hollow out and rebuild the new Command Center inside the mountains of Angel Grove. She kept her gaze focused on the ethereal image of Zordon's new spectral tube while hating that this felt all to much like when her father called her in his home office when she was in trouble as a child. Only the circumstances today were quite a bit more serious. Add in that her jackass ex-boyfriend... whom she still loved like crazy and hated nearly as equally, hadn't so much as apologized yet. Oh well, she surmised that the sooner they got through this private meeting the better. "With all due respect, I refuse to not speak my mind when I feel I'm being disrespected."

"Shouting angry obscenities at your team leader during a mission wasn't the most professional way to handle your dispute, Kimberly," Zordon noted carefully as to not make her feel as though he wasn't taking her claim seriously. "There's a time and place for airing your grievance. But in the field during a mission Tommy's word is law unless overruled by myself. That is the chain of command. Are we clear?"

Now pissed at two broken chromosome-having men... okay, just one and whatever Zordon was made of, Kim gave a respectful nod, craning her neck about to ease a aching note of soreness that had crept in. "It won't happen again."

"Thank you," Zordon replied. Having known and even enjoyed in a parental sort of interest in their romantic relationship for some time, he's feared the day would come when being in love would collide with their duty as Rangers. Nonetheless, the protection of the Earth came first above all else. Of that they needed to be reminded. But only after Kimberly had her say. "Now that is out of the way, Kimberly, please tell me in your own words what happened and why you felt Tommy disrespected you during the mission?"

As Kim began detailing her account of what happened over Arizona desert four hours ago, Tommy made sure he didn't glance at her so much as even out the corner of his eyes. Though he tried to hide it, his hands were still shaking as he was beyond furious with her... even though he missed her terribly. But stubborn as a mule, she refused to understand no matter what that he was only trying to protect her. He couldn't understand why she refused to see that. For now though he felt silence was his best course of action.

"... That was when the Horde creatures tore through the ground with their machines searching for the Gromorum artifact. Trini thought there was a good possibility that the wild attack on downtown LA was a violent diversion because all of our research and intelligence about the possible location of the Gromorum pointed outside of California," Kim detailed.

"What made you break formation with Tommy's airborne-Zord team just before they engaged the towering Bracken creature?" Zordon questioned.

Kimberly loaded her personal data-pad into Zordon's computer terminal. "During the battle I was monitoring alien frequencies in the area and picked up stray communications about the Arizona location. Specifically the word 'Shrelq-escue', which in the Horde language means Holy," Kim explained. "We've known for months that the artifact was on Earth and if the Horde discovered it the world would end. So with that in mind I contacted Tommy immediately while breaking formation and setting a new course for the desert."

"Against orders," Tommy asserted his first words since entering the War Room. Clipped and biting, he was as cold as she was. Both of them broken in more ways than one.

Rolling her tongue around the inside of her mouth, Kim held her frustration in check as best she could. Two weeks after they broke up and she's never been more miserable or upset with him. She willed her personal life aside for the moment. With Zordon looking on, she continued, "I told him I thought the attack on LA was a trick and that the Horde may have found the real artifact in Arizona. I traced the communications frequency and headed there."

Tommy's mind grazed over the cold fear that gripped him when he saw her Zord break formation, bursting through the clouds away from him. "I told her to have Billy analyze the frequencies."

"I have the exact same scanning arrays on my Crane Zord that Billy has here at the Command Center. And I know how to use them as well as he does."

"You had no idea what type of force the Horde had in that desert location, nor did you leave with my permission."

"I followed my gut instinct and was trying to prevent a global holocaust cause if the Horde get their scaly hands on that artifact the Earth's going back to the age of the dinosaurs," Kim vehemently argued her case. "I made a decision and hit the upper atmosphere as fast as I could heading towards the signal's origin. That was until 'you' hit the leader-kill switch on my Zord, suspending me in mid-air."

Finally Tommy glared at her. "Aisha and Zack are both still healing from serious injuries that could have killed them when they encountered the Horde creatures without the full support of the team. In their case they were ambushed. You'd be flying directly into it and would have gotten yourself killed."

"Death is a part of this job and I'm not afraid of it," Kim fired back, meeting his piercing gaze with her own ire. "If the artifact had been found then we needed to know that and it didn't make sense for the entire team to head to the desert in case I was wrong. I did know there was a chance I could be wrong, but if I wasn't I had to try."

"And I had to make the decision I did in order to try and save your life."

"You would have never done that to Jason or Adam."

"Are you accusing me of playing favorites or being sexist?"

"You know I am as capable as any Ranger on the team and I've been one longer than you. If I was right, which I was, I could have held my own until you guys got there."

"And if they jammed your communication it would have been you against a army, and then your death would have been on my hands."

Verbal daggers were exchanged with no end in sight. Kim didn't back down. "You disrespected my abilities and my instincts. The same instincts that have saved your life on more than one occasion."

Tommy pointed at her. "You didn't follow orders!"

Kim slapped his hand out of her face. "Fuck your orders!"

"Enough!" Zordon's words boomed throughout the entire room. "Our team's duty is the protection of Earth. I expect, no demand maturity and that you respect each other. And as far as this matter goes seeing as how I monitored it here, the matter will be settled this way."

Tommy and Kimberly were fuming and deathly quiet, awaiting whatever was to come.

"Kimberly, first and foremost Tommy is the leader. You do not disobey orders. Not even when the outcome was as victorious for us as this one. Just as our luck in recovering the artifact has prevented a horrible catastrophe, this night could have easily ended with Tommy having to tell your parents that you died today. You are hereby suspended from active duty for one week."

Fighting to control her temper, Kimberly ate her anger for the sake of respecting Zordon. "Alright. It won't happen again."

"As for you, Tommy. Kimberly's skill and instincts have served us well over the years and you should have given her at least a chance to see if she was right, which she was. You immediately de-activated her Zord when you could have ordered her to stay a safe distance away from the desert while monitoring all activity in the area. Its clear to me your personal feelings for her got in the way of your duty this time. And trust me, I don't say this lightly. I have all the faith in the world in you, but this time you were wrong. And neither of you should have entered into a shouting match mid-fight. That was careless, immature, and could have easily gotten you both killed. Tommy, you are suspended from the team for two weeks as well. Jason will fill in as leader during that time. Now both of you go cool off and make peace with the decisions you've made in your personal life. The Command Center isn't a place for romantic drama. Settle that on your own time. Dismissed."

Flying out the door nearly as swift as her vaunted Crane Zord, Kimberly felt a strong hand grip her forearm when she smashed her hand against the elevator button down the long hall. She spun to face Tommy, her eyes on fire. "What you did out there today hurt me so bad in front of everyone."

With his arms now crossed, Tommy stared at her. "I was trying to save your life."

"You purposely held me back when I know for a fact you would not have done it to one of the guys. Its only because we used to date, past tense, as in we don't anymore." She thought she caught a note of sadness cross his face. It clearly matched her own. Her voice lowered to something somber. "You didn't trust me."

"You didn't listen to me."

"You know that I know what I'm doing."

"I also know Aisha was in a coma for a week and Zack nearly died. If you got hurt..." He wasn't even able to finish. His gaze turned away even as she invaded his personal space.

"How many times have I almost died waiting to hear if one of your bone-headed ideas had gotten you killed or not? she dared him to defy. "I've seen you do things that made me want to strangle you, but I always trusted that even as scared as I was... I believed in you."

It was only when Tommy saw tears wet her eyes did he feel the sheer weight of what he'd done. But she just didn't see things from his perspective. Perhaps she couldn't. But none of that mattered now as he had hurt her deeply, something he swore he would never do. Never.

When the elevator door slid open Kimberly stepped inside, then raised her hand. She wanted no more of his company. "Today, you didn't believe in me. Something that I didn't think was possible. And now my heart is broken all over again. As if our break-up hadn't... she shook her head, willing back tears. I thought you knew me best."

Tommy's voice trembled as he tried to express something so hard for most people to comprehend. "As politically incorrect as this is to say, while all our lives are in my hands yours matters the most to me. You just... you can't... I need you. Don't you know that?"

His pleading expression melted something within her. But the cold was ever present as well. Their break-up never felt right, but the way things were going wasn't working either. Still, her heart missed him every beat it took. But at the moment she couldn't stand the sight of him. It hurt too much. After a deep breath, she breathed a sad little, "Goodnight."

The elevator door shut, robbing him a chance to say or do anything to fix this. All Tommy could do was lean back against the wall, bow his head and brood over how lost he truly was.

His Beautiful... was gone.

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**The home of Kimberly Hart **

**1717 Dante Drive **

**Tuesday, April 6, 1997 11:39 PM **

**Angel Grove, Ca**

Getting chewed out by "The Boss," missing out on dinner, a brand new episode of Beverly Hills 90210, dealing with a broken heart and now insomnia? Feeling thoroughly screwed by life, Kimberly was sure she just couldn't win tonight. Everything that could go wrong did.

Well, not exactly. Every man, woman, and child on Earth didn't die. "Woo Hoo for saving the world," she tried to cheer herself up with that uninspired outburst, sitting up in bed as the dark surrounded her. Sadly, no amusement was found as she couldn't fall asleep to save her life. Her body language screamed frustration and not even a cup of delicious hot chocolate and a sexy romance novel put a dent in her tension.

"Men," she growled, shaking her head while mentally bitch-slapping the Y-chromosome and all the crap they put women through. Although at the same time the object of her anger was also the other half of her missing soul. Dramatic and over the top as that teenage thought was, it still felt right. It always felt right with Tommy.

Breaking up with him... she could only imagine the feeling being similar to losing a limb. The phantom pain was with you every second of every day. Her reasons for ending their relationship felt right at the time, no matter the razor-sharp agony of letting him go. Being on the team, dealing with school, being Rangers and the daily hell that came with the job, on top of their relationship having no air to breath and no real time for it left her mentally and physically drained. She knows she gave up. It was her choice, for her reasons, and the best thing for her at the time.

It was just all to much at once. Not to mention they were arguing more, talking less, and facing the very real "sex" issue that was finally rearing its ugly head.

Kimberly grabbed her pillow and buried her face in it, then tossed it aside. She was to tired to cry yet again and the healing torn muscles in her shoulder flared angrily. Not to mention the strained Achilles tendon in her foot and sore ribs. Her mom's already given her the third degree about yet another "gymnastics" injury. The lies were mounting with no end in sight. The incredible Ranger powers greatly enhanced their invulnerability and amplified their healing ten fold. But they weren't impervious to injury or pain. They healed super fast, but took home every single blow. There was no luxury in being a Ranger.

An honor, yes. But no luxury.

Slipping out of bed, Kim did some of her best thinking on her feet. She walked around her bedroom, mindful of the squeaky floorboards she avoided as she knew every one. A glance out her second story bedroom window found the streets empty. Okay, so today she was right and her assumption saved the world. If Tommy had trusted her abilities none of the ugliness that followed after he hit the kill-switch on her Zord would have happened. She was even thinking of calling him today and maybe talking about... well, she wasn't miserable with him, but she sure was without him. What they had wasn't working and she was out of strength to fix it. At least at the time. "Its not like he fought for me," she thought bitterly, her heart clenching once more that when she spoke the words that ended them he only stared, nodded, and then walked away.

Did she mean so little to him?

No.... deep down she knew that he loved her with all his heart. But her Mom talked to her about a man's pride and how a woman, while never accepting disrespect because of it should always know it played a huge part in a mans decision making. She couldn't say she fully understood it or thought it really made sense, but her mom's wise words stayed with her. So did the pieces of her broken heart. The phone that no longer rang at "their" time right before bed. Shared lunches at their table, simplistic and silly as they was.

His kisses... his arms around her... being called Beautiful. She missed it all every single day, but couldn't ever tell him that. The equivalent of male pride in a woman was her self-respect. Hers wouldn't allow him to know how many nights she's cried over him, or how the sight of other couples caused her heart-ache, or that she dreaded the day he moved on as she's given him no reason to stay.

For now though she just had to deal. There were no other options and pining over a guy she dumped wasn't gonna solve anything. At least he got a stiffer punishment from Zordon than she did. That gave her a small smile, though the hurt in his eyes when the elevators doors close brought tears to her own. They weren't working together, but being apart felt so wrong at the same time. She just didn't know what to do and now she was dog-tired and needed sleep.

Taking a seat at the end of her bed, Kim brushed a hand through her hair and yawned. She thought of calling Sha or Trini, but the late hour might not find them in the best of moods. Maybe a little TV and some laughs would help her unwind and relax enough to catch some shut-eye. At least it beat lying in bed wide awake all night long.

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**The home of Tommy Oliver **

**901 West End **

**Tuesday, April 6, 1997 11:39 PM **

**Angel Grove, Ca**

Her name was Madeline Saunders.

Age 25, a recently returned Marine from Iraq. From today's newspaper article she was a career military officer and a highly decorated one for bravery above and beyond the call of duty. The color picture featured next to her obituary was one taken just before her first deployment. She smiled proudly in uniform, flanked by her beaming mom and dad. Her blue eyes were the color of sapphires as she looked ready to take on the world. She was attractive in that girl-next-door sort of way, survived by four brothers, as she was the only girl born to John and Janine Myers. Apparently they'd wanted a girl since their first son and was finally blessed on the fifth try.

Tommy wasn't sure when his mild obsession with the local newspapers obituary section began, but there was a part of him that sought out the history of those lives he couldn't save. Two weeks ago he pulled Madeline's broken body from the wreckage of a Federal building that collapsed in downtown Angel Grove during one of Lord Zedd's attacks. The woman's face stuck with him as the dead often did. The first person he'd found that he recognized from the obituary section was over six months ago. From then on whenever the Rangers assisted rescue crews in searching for survivors and aiding in the recovery of bodies he'd found himself curious about the lives lost. He wasn't able to see them as only casualties. To others maybe she was just a woman who lost her life tragically in a war not her own. But to someone else she was a daughter who used to chase the family dog in the backyard and dated the boy with the crazy braces.

She wasn't just another face. She was... they all were someone to Tommy. And through the obituary section he'd learned about who they were and how they lived. Only Kimberly knew of the photo album under his bed. A dark testament to a part of him he couldn't quite explain and didn't really understand. Nineteen articles of victims he'd personally touched in their final moments, now immortalized to him as real people and not just victims.

Scissors worked to cut the article from the newspaper page, and then then tucked inside the clear plastic of a blank page in his album. Another lost loved one to this unending war with Lord Zedd. And though the Ranger way, hone through blood and honor was to never attack both he and Jason had pleaded with Zordon man times to allow them to attack Zedd's castle and flat out kill him.

"To become as cruel, heartless, and angry as our enemy is to ultimately become them. Rangers do not kill in cold blood. That is our way. That will always be our way. And I never promised it would be an easy way."

Wise words from a man who'd lived a hundred lifetimes over. Sighing, Tommy tucked his album back under his bed and then laid back over the covers. Wired from today's physical and emotional events, he couldn't sleep to save his life. His dad's asked him why he looked tired all the time these days. How could he begin to explain. The lies he'd told his parents seemed like a mountain ever growing. He'd seen so much death by age 18 that he felt far older than his his modest years.

He wanted to nail Lord Zedd to the wall and tear his heart out. He wanted to never know what a dead child looked like or how its grieving mother sobbed over the small body. He wanted the carefree laughter to return to his team. He wanted to think of them all as just friends again and not soldiers. He wanted to have Kimberly back in his arms and for them to have time and space to solve their problems and find their way back to each other.

He wanted her to understand that she just couldn't die.

Tommy knew that was the most unfair thing to expect of any living human being. He was barely over 18 years old and acting as if he and Kimberly would be together forever. But all he could judge was the way his heart felt in the here and now. The future would take care of itself as it always did. For now though, she had to live. And today she pushed things too damn far and could have gotten herself killed.

Yet again her keen senses and clever mind won the day. When he should have applauded her insight, he claimed her right to act on it without so much as giving it a second thought. What she couldn't see was that he was trying to keep her safe. Keep her alive. Keep her with him.

Deep down he knew he was wrong. She called him on it, that he wouldn't have done that with Jason or Adam. Behind the impenetrable curtain of confidence he exuded was the very raw sense of loss that's been building ever since he took the mantle of leader. Zordon never gave a outright reason why he took leadership from Jason and gave it to him. Secretly he's worried Jason would resent him no matter how long ago it was. But Jason's never said a word about it once and loves him like a brother. In truth Tommy would follow Jason to hell itself to battle Satan and every demon there. There's nothing the original Ranger did that he isn't mirroring himself. But only recently has he begun to wonder if maybe Jason grew weary of the incredible burden leadership carries.

What if he asked to have it taken away? Once the mere thought would have been crazy. But now...

Tommy paced his room, switching off his night light. The White Rangers enjoyed the dark. It was good for brooding and he was definitely in the mood for that. Somber, but true.

In truth, he missed Kimberly more and more each day. The pain never lessened the days that passed as their break-up grew further in the rear view mirror of life. Her reasons for ending them were... well, to a great extent he understood. Things were bad and they weren't getting better. What she did, she did what was best for her. Maybe not what he would have done, but he still respected it. And it wasn't like he had time to truly fix things with school and being a Ranger eating anything resembling free time away. He was dealing cause he had to as there was no other choice.

Still, his actions today hurt the woman he loved. He didn't trust her, but fell prey to his own fear of losing her. As the casualties mounted in recent months he'd found his grip growing tighter around all he had control over. Tonight was was majorly pissed at him and might even hate him a little. But she was alive and that mattered more to him than anything. Zordon did what he had to do as overall leader and that was that. For now though this was the hand God dealt him.

Fixing things with Kim... there was no guarantee of that happening. He felt himself growing angrier by the day at all that he couldn't fix and his perception that Lord Zedd was being giving freedom to kill at will while all they could do was react. His broken heart was bleeding into a intense rage at everything. Sometimes he thought Kimberly's love was the light that led him through the solitary darkness.

Without it he felt lost. Worse than that, he felt broken.

Now she probably hated him on top of it. The way she briskly wiped away tears from her face he knew he was never meant to see when those elevator doors closed came back to him in a flood of emotion. Of course she loved him with all her heart. But he hurt her and that wasn't going to be easily forgiven

Not that he'd forgiven himself in any way, shape or form.

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**Two Days Later**

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**The Command Center **

**Zordon's War Room **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997 3:34 AM **

**The mountains of Angel Grove, California**

"The very definition of morality is a system of conduct and ethics that is virtuous," Zordon's voice dominated over the room full of his chosen Rangers. Gathered only minutes ago out of bed and their homes, he assembled the team with a heavy heart. For today, the very Code of the Rangers would be broken. And nothing would ever be the same again. "The Rangers, past, present, and future stand for the defense and preservation of life throughout the galaxy. We were never designed to be a attack force. We are keepers of the peace. We represent what is right and just no matter the dire circumstances."

The War Room, with its low-ceiling-ed, hand-painted replica of the War of Delta Prime where seventeen Rangers gave their lives to save the Delta Prime star system lorded over the circular marble table where eleven occupied high-back chairs resided. In various stages of sleep-dress, the Rangers awaited the reason for their very early emergency summons.

"Alas, the winds of change have come and we must respond." From the corner where his dimensional tube was located, Zordon continued. "Alpha, the lights." His trusted ally for over a millennium pressed a wall-switch, shrouding the room in darkness until a towering photo-realistic hologram rose from the center of the table. The clear image focused on a familiar castle that roused a series of shocked exclamations from the assembled. The structure was decimated, with billows of mystical smoke rising from several blustering fires. And what of the massive alien warship hovering above the ruins. "Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa, and all loyal to have have been murdered by a being... an abomination known as Crysis."

With a hand grazing the modest stubble on his chin, Jason couldn't take his eyes off the charred remains of Lord Zedd's castle. Nor the enormous battleship hung ominously above it. "Who or what is Crysis and how did he kill Zedd?"

"The origin of Crysis is unknown," Zordon began to detail as he sensed his team was wide awake now. "The Galactic Database of the Alliance has no information on him prior to the destruction of the planet Valorum two years ago. There is no evidence of his home world, his alien race, allies, or even his face. Only his voice, spoken before the desolation of a world has been captured. He is, for all intents and purposes, a phantom."

"An incredibly powerful one." Resting his half-empty coffee mug back down, Billy rested his hands in his lap while addressing the team, "I've been up all night ever since the attack began researching all known data about Crysis. He is a master of Tech-Sorcery, a merging of technology and sorcery fused to create anew. He attacks whole worlds, seizes them, sells its inhabitants for slavery, rapes the planet of any viable resources, and then destroys it long before anyone can stop him."

"Lord Zedd wasn't Darth Vader and all, but he wasn't a pushover either," Rocky interjected, and then offered a polite nod of thanks to Alpha for a cup of steaming tea. He was fast waking up. "How did Crysis kick his butt?"

For his young, powerful charges Lord Zedd was a vile, inhuman creature who killed without remorse. But there was a sense of control they felt in defending the Earth and awaiting his eventual downfall. Zordon considered if perhaps they'd gotten cocky after so many victories. But their were bad guys and then there was Crysis. The latter being a monster in ever sense of the word. "Rangers, Crysis possesses the absolute master of sorcery and technology. He boasts a advanced star-ship nearly two miles in length, filled with various races of alines beings sworn to die at his command. All of them genetically and artificially altered to become vicious weapons in service of their God, Crysis. Lord Zedd wielded powerful magic, but against a force we know so little about he was likely caught off guard and destroyed. Our cloaked satellites monitoring Zedd's castle alerted us to the attack. I personally summoned Billy to keep watch four hours ago."

"Why weren't we called sooner?" Tommy inquired with a mild edge to his voice. He was clearly surprised. "We could be up there by now."

"You'd be dead by now," Zordon answered his team leader, who seemed taken back by such a claim. "Crysis knows we are on Earth. He knows we know he is up there and he hasn't attacked Earth yet. Careful planning is necessary. Unfortunately time isn't a luxury we posses."

"Why do I get the feeling he's not afraid of us." Kimberly glanced around the table while typing her brown tresses into a ponytail. "You'd think he'd come after his greatest threat immediately. Especially in the dead of night."

"Matters are far worse than an immediate attack." Zordon altered the holographic imagery. It switched views from Lord Zedd's destroyed castle to a massive crater on the dark side of the moon. One now alive with alien activity as towering red and gold machines, as well as scores of workers appeared to be burrowing into the depths of the moon's surface. "Galactic Alliance Intelligence believe Crysis used a device on the planet Malacore less than thirty days ago that... for lack of a better term, cloned the planet." The hologram display deviated to a gorgeous emerald world with only one huge continent. "This footage was taken moments before Crysis's device struck the world. It was filmed by a Malcorian on-board an escape pod." A massive beam of red energy struck the green world, enveloping it in a shroud of crimson that quickly consumed the entire planet. Just as incredibly, a immense wave of green energy began forming on the other side of the world. A second planet began to swirl into view as the original burst in a colossal explosion as the escape pod's footage began to shake violently. Hushed gasps erupted from all those present.

Aisha shook her head, brown eyes drawn to the horrific display. "My God. How many lifeforms were on the planet?"

"Nineteen billion. All destroyed," Billy replied as silence reigned for a long moment. Trini bowed her head, while Katherine covered her mouth with her hand. Rocky shut his eyes and sighed. Onscreen the second world, forming inside a force-shield of some sort began rapidly taking shape as gargantuan chunks of the original flew in all directions. "The device Crysis used is believed to analyze a planets core on a sub-atomic level and then absorb the chemical composition. The result is the destruction of the original world for a new. If harnessed, Crysis could create the cloned world anywhere he saw fit. He could sell the worlds to the highest bidder or create a empire for himself that no armada could destroy."

"Here comes the punchline," Adam pointed out as onscreen the second world quickly blackened from its core outward into a horrid dark husk floating in space, lifeless and charred as if burned from the inside out.

"The device Crysis used didn't work. But reports are he never halted in its development. And now we believe the second test try is Earth." Zordon ended the video feed from the destroyed world, switching back to the dark side of the moon. "Billy and I believe that Crysis needs the planet intact before his device can accurately calibrate the proper calculations. The Malacorian's defended their world with weapons of mass destruction, similar to but far superior to Earths nuclear weapons. The resulting radioactive fallout may have caused the error in the planet's cloning process. Again, that is a assumption at best."

"So a direct attack on Earth isn't likely?" Katherine questioned what was on everyone's minds. "We know Earth's governments will nuke anywhere they land no matter what we ask of them. If Lord Zedd had ever attacked elsewhere we would have had a catastrophe on our hands."

"So then what are they gonna..." Kimberly formed the words until she gave serious thought to what Zordon was leading them to see. She sat up straight, her jaw tightening. "He has no plans of landing on Earth. He's gonna move the moon and let it do all the work for him."

"Exactly," Zordon declared. "He's building a gravitational array on the moon's surface that will move it so close to the Earth the horrific natural disasters will kill every man, woman and child on the planet while leaving the world untouched by the ravages of nuclear fallout."

Tommy learned early on since becoming a Ranger that one couldn't decipher Zordon's facial expressions into what he was feeling. But the tone of his voice, that was another thing entirely. Ever since their leader began speaking he'd picked up on a note of grief and restrained anger in the ageless wizard. One he'd never heard before. All of it leading to one inescapable conclusion. "What do we know about the devices being built on the moons surface?"

Billy enlarged and augmented the onscreen images to included metallic compositions, size of the devices and radioactive properties being tracked. "Its a device that will alter the moon's gravitational orbit. By my estimation it'll be completed in three hours or less. Keep in mind I have no definitive conclusions."

Nodding, the Ranger's leader rose from his seat. "Zordon, we can't stand back and wait this time."

"We must boldly and defiantly act against this aggression." Zordon insisted. "Crysis must not simply be stopped, he must be destroyed along with his technology for the sake of the entire galaxy." The wizard paused momentarily. "I welcome any other options."

If he were present Kimberly would have hugged Zordon. He sounded so unlike himself in that he had no way to avoid this extremely dangerous course of action. The Code of the Rangers defined him, its creator. Breaking it was killing him. "We knew it would come to this one day, Zordon. Lord Zedd wanted to conquer the planet, but his personal vendetta against you paralyzed his attempts. He played into our hands. Crysis isn't going to sit up there and just keep trying day after day. Either we kill him or he will kill us."

"Are we not going to try and apprehend him? Trini interrupted, her gaze roaming the table. "Bring him before a Galactic Alliance Tribunal and let him be tried before the entire galaxy. Let the Tribunal execute him if that's the judgment given."

"Did we do it to Zedd?" Kim replied.

"We should of." Trini then considered the differences and how Lord Zedd would never have been taken alive. They would of had to kill him and up until today that went against the Ranger Code. "Look, I understand our need to go in all guns blazing, but do we do that at the expense of what the Rangers stand for?"

"If the option to capture Crysis presents itself, I agree we should take him before the Tribunal," Jason agreed to an extent. "But right now, today, we have the lives of everyone on Earth to weigh against the laws of justice. We have no luxuries to hope for. Crysis must be stopped here and now," his fist pounded the table.

"He's murdered nineteen billion people already. But today we can stand against him," Zack said. "Lord Zedd was a rookie compared to this guy. We gotta go in and go in hard or there will be no tomorrow."

"He knows we're coming." Tanya sat her coffee down. "Make no mistake about that. He's aware we going to try and stop him. He'll be ready for a war."

"Then we'll bring hell to his doorstep." Kimberly fought a mild smirk when she caught Tommy string at her lips. He always liked it when she talked tough. For a short moment they were in love again and not miles apart. "Zordon, what's next?"

The room fell silent as Zordon contemplated countless years of honorable service versus the actions tonight's attack called for. "Like Trini, I would prefer justice to reign. But the safety and security of Earth must come first. To that end the reason you weren't all brought here as soon as Crysis attacked Lord Zedd was due to Billy and I preparing your Zords for the inevitable battle to come." A complex red-outlined grid of massive star-ship above Lord Zedd's castle came into view. "We've isolated a core reactor here," a laser point directed everyone's attention to a section of the ship, deck 5, near the engineering room. "If a specially augmented E.M.P bomb were set off here theoretically the entire ship would shut down. The opportunity to take Crysis or kill him would greatly increase. His foot soldiers and Elite Guard, while deadly, are within our ability to defeat despite being outnumbered. But Crysis himself and his Tech-Sorcery, very careful measures must be taken."

Jason had heard enough. The Rangers first leader was ready to go. "What's the plan?"

Zordon brought up surveillance footage of the dark side of the moon once more. "With Tommy suspended as team leader, Jason will lead this mission. He will be seconded by Billy, who will remain here at the Command Center to assist both teams with real-time intell. Kim will take third during the mission."

Tommy bit his tongue for the sake of what they were about to do. Pride had no placed here.

"Jason, Kimberly, Aisha, Rocky, and Tanya will take our new Winged Prey Zords and attacked the gravitational device. Coordinates are being sent to your on-board navigational arrays now," Zordon explained. "Tommy, while not a mission leader on this excursion will lead a second team that will board Crysis's vessel. Katherine, Adam, Trini, and Zack will accompany him with our E.M.P bomb. If the option to capture Crysis presents itself then take it. But your first priority is to stop him by any means necessary. And though it pains me to order this, deadly force is authorized."

"How do we get on-board his ship?" Tommy asked. "And how accurate are our schematics?"

Billy leaned forward. "We've scanned his entire ship from top to bottom. I'm confident we know what we're dealing with. You'll pilot a small cloaked shuttle and will rendezvous with one of the transport ships making constant supply runs from the crater site to the main ship. We're tracking it at twenty-seven minute intervals. You'll fly beneath the transport ship and dock on-board the main ship."

"There's so much that can go wrong here it's not even funny," Katherine noted while going over the main ships decks. "A military operation like this requires days of proper research and strategy. But I guess we play with the cards we're dealt."

Zordon watched his Rangers converse amongst themselves about the mission, possible options should complications arise, and what to do about their families when they wake up and each of them are gone. That drew quiet a few chuckles around the room despite the dark day ahead. At last the time had come to go. "Rangers, we face the extermination of the human race." His words drew them back to the here and now. "We have a job to do. I suggest you get ready, arm yourselves, and meet with your team leads in private. We begin in 20 minutes. Dismissed."

One by one they filed out of his War Room. Each and everyone of them as special to him as if they were his child. Now grown, battle hardened, and ready to face the unknown. He prayed, in his own way, for the safety of each of them. "Alpha, are the shuttle and the Zords readied?"

"All are flight-capable. We are ready."

"Good. Then may the power protect us."

**********

**********

**The Command Center **

**Winged Prey Zord Hanger Bay **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997 4:20 AM **

**The mountains of Angel Grove, Ca**

While pacing back and forth, Tommy heard the last second preparations Trini and Katherine were making in the rear of the shuttle he was going to pilot shortly. Adam was securing the E.M.P Bomb in the cargo hold. Standing at the top of the boarding ramp, he scanned the hanger bay for any sight of Kimberly. What he wanted to say to her, he didn't know. There was so much wrong with them that these brief moments before all Hell broke loose weren't near enough time to fix anything between them. But he needed... he absolutely needed a moment alone with her.

And then he saw her.

Between the Eagle and Hawk Winged Prey Zords, Jason held court with his team, no doubt going over his last minute instructions. Kimberly's gaze found his intense stare and held it for a long moment, and then she looked away. The team broke off to their respective Zords as Tommy stalked off the boarding ramp to his shuttle towards Kimberly. Ignoring his pursuit, she began backing towards a shadowed loading dock on the other end of the hanger, turning away from him into the darkness.

A strong hand grabbed at Kimberly's forearm and before she could pull away she was being pressed hard to the back wall. Air fled her lungs before Tommy inhaled her next breath, kissing her with such savage hunger. Kissing her so thoroughly, as if he'd never see her again.

Her mind exploded with rage and frustration, but her body melted in his powerful embrace. His arms tightened around her, while her arms curled round his neck, her tongue effectively fucking his mouth as badly as her body craved that one last line they'd never crossed. There was so much wrong with them, but so much right about this angry, passionate moment. Maybe it was the dangerous mission that shoved their very real problems into the background for the moment. Maybe it was the boldly confident way his eager hands roamed her body, causing her to arch and whimper, the heat of his hard arousal shooting heat throughout her body. Her nails dug into his shoulders, gasping around his tongue, her body clenching around the phantom of him she so craved.

Tommy claimed her hot little mouth, having been starved for far to long of the taste of her. He drank fully from her lips, his hands ghosting down to squeeze her backside before circling her waist. Oh what he would give for circumstances to be different. For them to have already made love for the first time. Because had they he swore he would bury himself inside her right now and forget the whole damn world. Take her until she cried out his name.

At last, a seconds or a lifetime later Kimberly broke the kiss on the wing tips of a husky gasp. She relinquished her hold around his neck as he did the same around his neck. Her eyes sparked with raw desire and fiery anger that he could just take her like this. But she sought this dark quiet place while knowing he would follow. She sucked in a deep breath, her gaze intense. "Don't you dare die."

Tommy didn't smile. But a weight lifted nonetheless. "You either." Kimberly was gone no sooner had the words fled his lips. After a moment of modesty he made his way towards the shuttle and whatever fate had in store.

**********

**********

**"The Rune"**  
**Domminair-Class Warship **

**The throne room of Crysis **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997 4:40 AM **

**Far side of the moon**

For Crysis, the power wasn't in the act of killing. It was with the power to kill. To wield life and death as weapons at his command alone. Creation dominated all. For one to own that power meant immortality. And he would own that power by any means necessary. But first... he had a debt to repay.

Surrounded by an inferno... blustering flames ushered him into existence long ago, so it was fitting that gusting fires lit from the stone pyre-pits surrounding his domed throne room roared around the gathered. This mammoth structure built in honor of a living God was forever sweltering. A mirrored floor reflected the stars above, offering an almost unimaginable sense of awe when one entered. The Ventra-glass dome overlooking the vastness of the cosmos revealed the jewel of the universe below.

Earth.

Primitive in technology. Its people without value as slaves to any world. But its rich natural resources and the specific chemical composition at the planet's core made it not only an incredibly easy conversion to fit other alien species Eco-requirements, but it was the only world of its like in all the universe that could be successfully cloned. A fact that only made Crysis inevitable journey here more destined than ever.

Seated atop a throne of crushed bones, Crysis addressed his Elite Guard. "They mass against us, my brothers." With towering flames encircling the grand hall, four cloaked beings on bended knee bowed their heads. "Zordon is sending his accursed Rangers to kill us. Our mere presence has given them no choice. No way to back out. And no other viable options."

"ALL HAIL CRYSIS!" the four chanted loudly, their powerful words echoing ominously around the vast hall.

"Their Code of Honor... of Justice... of the preservation of life will be broken!" Crysis clenched his flesh fist as he rose from the throne before his Elite Guard. "Zordon's based his very existence on the defense and protection of peace for all. Yet who has killed more than the self-rightious founder of the Power Rangers? Who has more blood on his hands... more hidden sins than the wizard from Eltar?"

"ALL HAIL CRYSIS!"

The cursed, billowing cape of dark, living smoke flowed over the powerful dark frame of Crysis. White, dead eyes narrowed angrily. Skin as dark as deep space, his grotesquely altered body, an unholy merging of flesh, technology, and sorcery was as far from human as one could imagine. An expressionless face of stone spoke. "For two hundred and seventy-five years we suffered... were tortured and imprisoned for crimes we did not commit. All in place of the one who truly deserved to be punished. And while we rotted away in hell, Zordon was cheered and adored throughout the cosmos. But today... Now my brothers!! Zordon of Eltar will answer for his crimes at long last!"

"ALL HAIL CRYSIS!!"

Black Cyborg-metal containing, built around, and torn into flesh peeked from behind the heavy smoke-cloak of dark energy. "We will butcher his Rangers, decimate his world, and lay waste to his legacy. WE WILL BREAK HIM!" Crysis raised his cyborg fist, alerting Thanos, Nomad, Void, and Ruckus to rise. "Thanos, are we ready?"

The massive, hulking yellow-skinned monster hissed, "An armada of our fighters await their Zords at the dig site, Master." Upon rising to his fool nine-foot tall height, he clearly towered over Crysis. His strength, that of legend. As was his appetite for destruction.

Peering through the broad window glass overlooking the Earth, Crysis jaw tightened. All his life has led him to this very moment. His vengeance was at hand. "We have caught them off guard. They scramble to engage us. Our plan has worked perfectly. They think all we want is their pathetic planet. But they will soon learn the truth about Zordon."

Crysis faced his Elite Guard once more. Like him, born into a hellish world of slavery. Expected to die, and yet they persevered against all odds. Banded together. Evolved. And then slaughtered their captors.

Thanos the Beast. A stronger being Crysis had never known. Nomad's ability to spirit-jump and possess a being's consciousness was an invaluable weapon at his disposal. Void wielded the power of teleportation with deadly intent. As for Ruckus...

Crysis smiled. It was always a pleasure to have one truly insane being by his side.

"My Lord, what of the Rune? Surely an attack force will be sent here?" Thanos inquired.

Standing before the Earth below, Crysis felt the tide of fate shifting his way. This was his ultimate destiny. His revenge, long thought impossible, now at hand. "We are more than a match for them. I look forward to besting them in battle, and then sending their broken bodies back to the Eltarian. After all..."

"... It is the sins of the father that inspires such heartlessness in the son."

**********

**The End of Chapter 1**

**Final Chapter: Nothing goes according to plan as war is raged above the Earth. Heartbreaking sacrifices are made.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: "The Darkest Night"**  
**Written by: Shawn Chapter 2/3**

**Summary: War rages on the moon as the Rangers battle Crysis and his Elite Guard. Horrific decisions are made and lives are lost in the conflict to save Earth. AU.**

**Category: Angst/Romance/Drama/Violence/Love Making/Death **

**Rating: MA**

**Time-line/Spoilers: AU from the moment Jason, Trini, and Zack go to the Peace Conference. In this story they don't leave the team, but Adan, Aisha, and Rocky join as Rangers. Jason and Tommy co-lead the team. This story picks up a year later during the time of Power Rangers Zeo, only Zeo never happened. The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers are Tommy, Kim, Jason, Trini, Zack, Billy, Aisha, Rocky, and Adam.**

**Disclaimer: Disney owns it all now. I own the right to make PR a bit more adult, a bit more serious, and a bit more dramatic.**

**Authors Notes: The mental image I want my readers to have of the Rangers outfits, Zords, and Angel Grove is in line with Mighty Morphing Power Rangers: The Movie. The outfits will be the body-armor type and the city is big, bright, and more what you would expect from a real city instead of what's portrayed on the TV show. Expect a more serious approach to protecting the Earth and how Zordon commands the team.**

**Authors Notes 2: All Rangers are 18 and the story is set near the end of their senior year of High School.**

**Authors Notes 3: This series is being extended a bit longer than the two chapters I originally planned.**

**Dedicated to: SYuuri aka Liz the Great:)**

**I have no ambition in this world but one, and that is to be a fireman. The position may, in the eyes of some, appear to be a lowly one; but we who know the work which the fireman has to do believe that his is a noble calling. Our proudest moment is to save lives. Under the impulse of such thoughts, the nobility of the occupation thrills us and stimulates us to deeds of daring, even of supreme sacrifice. ~ Chief Edward F. Croker quotes ()Irish born American Firefighter Chief of Department, FDNY (1899-1911), 1865-1951)**

**"Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection."**  
**~ Arthur Schopenhauer**

**What is love? Love is when one person knows all of your secrets... your deepest, darkest, most dreadful secrets of which no one else in the world knows... and yet in the end, that one person does not think any less of you; even if the rest of the world does. ~ author unknown**

**"The Crossroads"**

**Five Winged Prey Zords **

**En route to the far side of the Moon, the lunar hemisphere that is permanently turned away from the Earth **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997 5:20 AM**

On the eve of their most daring mission ever, Zordon's commanding voice carried through all of the Zords com-link speakers. "Ranger's, you'll soon be within visual contact of the crater gravitational array device. All Wings check in."

With the majesty of the Earth slowly disappearing behind him, Jason set in the precise coordinates for the crater dig-site. "Red Dragon Zord online."

"Pink Crane Zord online," Kimberly added as she barrel-rolled to Jason's left wing. "Ready to rock and roll."

"Crimson Crow Zord online." Rocky deftly swerved to Jason's right wing. "Saving the world is my hobby."

"Silver Eagle Zord online," Aisha chimed in as she took her place on Kimberly's left wing. "Hitting the mall after we kick Crysis ass. No way I'm going to school today."

"Golden Hawk Zord online," Tanya finished as she took her place along Rocky's right wing. "New shoes for everybody," she laughed.

"The calm before the storm," Billy quietly mused to himself, ever mindful of the Rangers supreme confidence in the face of any and all dangers. He swiveled his black high-back chair behind a massive eight-foot tall set of wall-mounted HD monitors and his technologically advanced computer console. With each Zord outfitted with advanced HD cameras, the real-time video footage he received allowed him to be able to closely monitor the Zord's critical functions from the Command Center. "Zordon, all systems are a go."

Zordon acknowledged while syncing in with Billy's console. "All Zords engage stealth mode and secure communications channel X-157."

"Hopefully fortune favors the bold," Jason was compelled to note as his Red Dragon Zord effortlessly skimmed the dark surface of the moon, executing a spectacularly dangerous maneuver through a rocky ravine at break-neck speeds. "They know we're coming." He paused, gathering his wits. "This is gonna get ugly."

"Neither time nor more reliable intelligence is available to us, Jason," Zordon declared. "If we used teleportation it would reveal our new hidden location. Unfortunately a directly blunt mode of attack is necessary."

While Zordon went over last minute instructions the astonishing vista before the Pink Ranger while soaring over the moon was a sight so few had ever seen in person before. Never mind the sheer number of times she'd flown in space dwarfed every other non-Ranger person on Earth by such a staggering number. Nonetheless, the awe of being off-world was drowned by the quiet terror that on the other side of the moon the man she loved was about to lead a near suicide mission aboard a two-mile long warship without her by his side. A prayer and her love despite their current state was all that she could offer him. For now her sole focus was needed here. With her Zord's afterburners kicked in, Kimberly asked, "Relay to us again what we're up against, Billy? We rushed through our team briefing so fast."

"Via footage taken by Galactic Alliance officials from escape shuttles, we know Crysis star-fleet armada uses red Zebra-class star-fighters. Nearly half the size of a Zord, but just as swift and highly maneuverable. They possess one-fourth the firepower at our disposal, and are sleek and deadly, easily outnumbering us by a great margin. From what we can tell outside of Crysis main warship all other shuttles and transport ships wield minimal armaments and aren't used for military purposes."

The Gold Ranger asked, "That's still as much as we know, right? We aren't certain?"

"Affirmative."

"E.T.A seven minutes," Aisha said. "Look, we all have a job to do. So lets do it. I know we're all scared, but whatever happens..." She thought of Rocky and so much no one knew about them. So much she was only now learning about herself. And her heart. "We're gonna win."

"No doubt. And now we got a visual." Ahead over a vast mountainous range, Kim caught sight of twin monoliths the size of downtown Angel Grove skyscrapers as they filled her line of vision. Immense scaffolds connected the brightly-lit machines while scores of thruster-pack wearing workers were assisted by red and gold tank-sized digging machines on the surface. Her brown eyes narrowed. "Here we go."

"Rangers, all weapons hot." Jason armed his Zord's laser canons and Viper missels. "Tanya, Kim hit the North Tower. Aisha and I will take the South. Rocky, swing around out of sight and give us a clear view of what we're up against. Cut off any reinforcements. Be ready to evacuate Tommy's team off of Crysis main warship if all hell breaks loose."

"Breaking away now. Good luck, guys. Save some butt for me to kick." White-red afterburner trails erupted as Rocky veered his Crimson Crow Zord away from the group, his last thought a silent prayer that they all lived through this.

"My God..." Kimberly stared in awe as the moon's astonishing horizon lit up brilliantly due to the technological wonders of gigantic Crysis gravitational arrays. But that wasn't all that stopped her heart cold. Several massive, unidentified alien warships hovered over the gigantic crater that spanned miles in length. It resembled the Grand Canyon times five, only with the immense darkness of space overhead. "Billy, we need a read on those new warships A.S.A.P. And how in the hell did we not get a read on them before just now?"

No response came.

Jason's jaw tightened. "Change of plans. Tanya and I are gonna hit those new warships. Gotta see what we're up against. Kim, Sha, stay on that North tower until its space dust. Once they're down bomb the pit."

"Copy," Aisha and Kim acknowledged.

"Billy, can we scramble their communications? That'll make things easier on us," Tanya asked while scanning those new warships. Her radar presented nothing out there at all. If she wasn't physically seeing those warships her Zord wouldn't even know they were there. No reply from the Command Center. The static alarmed her greatly. "Jason?"

"We've lost all communication with the Command Center. We're on our own," Jason replied before his gaze sharpened wildly. Shimmers of light warped before his eyes as the skies exploded in visceral activity. Countless fighters emerged in waves, blazing towards them out of nowhere. "They're bringing the heat, Rangers! TAKE IT TO'EM!"

A hailstorm multicolored laser-fire roared against them as the Winged Prey Zords scattered in evasive maneuvers.

**Same Time**

**"Breaker-1"**  
**Power Rangers advanced scout shuttle **

**Approaching the ruins of Lord Zedd's castle **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997 5:20 AM**

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire," Adam considered with no small amount of awe as the mammoth red and gold two-mile long warship hovered ominously in the distance over Lord Zedd's destroyed castle. The rock-encrusted vessel, with flecks of blinking gold stretched nearly as far as the eye could see. Sheer terror was effortlessly exuded by the mere presence of such a unnatural techno-beast. The design was decidedly alien and aggressive, appearing powerful enough to attack a world all by itself. For the third time in a row the Green Ranger monitored the Ranger's shuttle's stealth systems in his co-pilot's chair with Tommy at the controls beside him. "If our E.M.P bomb doesn't work..."

"It will."

The White Ranger's vaunted 'Leader Voice' was coldly serious. Adam spared a wry glance at a Tommy. "You're the brooder, I'm the optimist, remember?"

Tommy cracked a small smile. "All things change, bro."

"That they do," Adam replied as the shuttle sailed quietly through space at a rapidly increasing rate of speed. Suddenly a new glowing blip emerged on his red radar grid. The exact one he'd been waiting for. "Look, there it is," the Green Ranger pointed out to Tommy. "Right on time."

Through the cloaked shuttle's cockpit, Tommy caught visual site of the bronze mid-sized transport vessel they planned to use as cover to enter Crysis warship. The freighter, with its huge sphere-shaped barrels anchored underneath set a course for the massive warship. "Scan it."

Punching in the commands, Adam did just that. "Looks like a fuel barge for the most part. Typical level-3 energy core. There are several alien life-forms on-board. The ship is unarmed. That's our ticket in."

"Here we go. Nice and easy." The Rangers shuttle set about a swift intercept course for the freighter. Utilizing his amazing piloting skills, Tommy angled the ship just beneath the freighter. Close enough to become one with the ship on a radar scan, but with enough distance that the other ship didn't even know they were there. The Ranger's stealth shielding provided a mirrored image any technological or visual scan wouldn't pick up on. Billy's latest Ranger technology upgrades were the best in the galaxy.

With the boundless expanse of space before him, including the very real possibility he might die today, Tommy's thoughts drifted to his Beautiful and the mess they'd made of their love life. He wasn't so naive as to bet the farm that they'd find happily ever after at the end of high school... but God how he loved her. And now she was flying into the unknown without him by her side. He knew she was more than capable, but that didn't ease his mind. If she died today they might as well kill him too.

Pushing those dark thoughts aside, Tommy turned just over his shoulder. "Trini, status report?"

From a few feet away at her computer terminal, the Yellow Ranger finished her final mission calibrations before sending a full wireless activation program to each Ranger's helmet. "I just hacked the freighter's communications signal. Seems they're speaking in Hyton, a dead alien language thought to have been used by the Gods of Eltar eons ago. With our universal translator all that we hear through our helmets will be English translated and we have the option of speaking it as well. The voice-command for it is Delta-9."

Tommy gave a nod. One issue down. Around thirty more to go. "Good job," he replied. "Kat, you're up next."

"The E.M.P bomb is ready," Katherine responded from the back-alcove where the silver and black bomb sat before her, humming ominously. "The pre-programming is done. Once detonated the massive burst of electromagnetic radiation will create a fluctuating electromagnetic field that should cripple all systems aboard the warship for hours. We'll be running and gunning in the dark, but its our best shot at evening the odds. The bomb's stationary lift device will allow us to move it easily, and the specific power shield will protect it from laser fire should things get hot around it. But once its armed it can't be shut off. Other than that, let's kick Crysis ass and go home."

"Well said," Adam agreed while watching a section of Crysis warship open from beneath the titanic craft. It was the size of three football fields in length, with a vast interior buzzing with flying droids and other transport vessels waiting to depart. But no fighters. Not within what he could see or flying around outside the warship. That left him uneasy. Nonetheless, Tommy's piloting skills mimicked the freighter's lofty ascent inside the warship until it docked on a ceiling scaffold. Their first bit of luck today. "Zack, you're up."

"Nothing to it but to do it." Never one to lack Confidence, the Black Ranger stood beneath a circular, pressurized laser hub in the center of the shuttle. He took a deep breath, clutched both his ion-blasters, then gave Kat a nod. "I'm ready."

"Good luck." Katherine keyed in a wall-console.

The pressurized hub glowed in a bright red circle as it laser-burned its way through the underbelly of the freighter. In three seconds the hub fell to the floor with a heavy chunk of metal. Zack swiftly leapt through the hole created and all aboard the Ranger shuttle heard a symphony of laser blasts that quieted in less than twenty seconds. Not one counter shot was heard.

"The freighter's secure."

Zack's reply was all Tommy needed to hear. "Zack, get back here." The others gathered around a small, holographical sphere in Tommy's right hand. The blue-outlined architectural design of the warship's hanger came into view. "Billy thinks if we set the bomb off here," he pointed out a small cross-way, "we have the best shot of knocking out the ship's reactor core. Judging by distance, this hall is roughly four city blocks North from where we are now."

The Black Ranger returned to the cockpit carrying a small hand-held device. "I scanned all the crew aboard the freighter. We got five images we can use. Best we can hope for is three and a half minutes before we lose our cover."

"Three and a half minutes to take a seven hundred pound bomb four city blocks through a heavily guarded alien warship, detonate it, fight our way through dozens and dozens of enemy soldiers in the dark, and then capture or kill Crysis," Kat considered in an amused tone. "Suddenly school isn't sounding so bad."

"Turkey Thursday in the cafeteria... I like turkey," Trini joked while sliding a sniper rifle over her shoulder. "Tommy, we're missing Ms. Applebee's Geometry test."

"Oh the horror," the White Ranger laughed before donning his game face. "Zack, stay here and keep the ship ready to go. Any sign that you've been discovered blast your way outta here. We'll find a alternate transport."

The Black Ranger frowned behind his helmet. "I don't like it, but I'll do it."

"No choice, bro." Tommy addressed the rest of the team. "We have three minutes to move the bomb into place. As soon as it goes off or we're discovered all hell will break loose. Every single living thing aboard this ship wants to kill you. Kill it first."

Thinking of justice first as it was her way, Trini asked, "What about Crysis?"

"We do what we can. I trust all of you to use your best judgment. We're trying to save the world and that comes before anything. Including our own lives." He extended his wrist, as did Trini, Adam, and Katherine. "Zack, go for it."

The Black Ranger aimed his hand-held device at the team's wrists, syncing the scan information into their suits camouflage-array. Suddenly all five Rangers took on alien forms, clad in red and gold attire that bore Crysis symbol on their chests. "You guys are so ugly."

"Good. Now hopefully we'll live long enough to be pretty again," Tommy said.

"You weren't that pretty before," Kat teased. Tommy replied with the middle finger as they moved to the back of the shuttle and the E.M.P bomb.

It was the last light moment they would enjoy...

Flying at break-neck speeds, weaving through and around an onslaught of laser-fire that rattled the Red Dragon Zord, Jason tensely coordinated the Ranger's attack. "Kim, Rocky, draw their fire closer to the surface. We gotta break some of the bigger squadrons of star-fighters up. Sha, hit the squadron on Tanya's tail! Don't use any missiles! Gotta conserve everything we got! Scatter their forces! Go!"

"Copy, Big Red," Rocky's breathe heaved into his com-link while nailing five Red Zebra star-fighters before finding himself the prey of a dozen more. He hooked up, and then over the front-end of one of the Cruisers, skimming its vast exterior while dodging savage star-fighter attacks. Taking evasive action, he swung the Crimson Crow Zord at a sharp angle off the side of the Cruiser on his way to the moon's surface. The glass hub over his cockpit was alive with bright lights of laser fire. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

"No sarcasm, Rock," Aisha warned before her Zord absorbed a trio of blasts that rocked the entire front-end of her Zord hard. "Stay on'em. You're not Han Solo."

"Okay, Lando Sha-risian."

"... k, that was kinda funny. Now fly!" The Silver Eagle Zord's wing cannons ignited a barrage of explosions as Aisha destroyed the fighters hunting Tanya. Together their Zords swept round and round the sprawling apex of the South Tower, taking out star-fighters until the reached the apex. "T, break west in ten. I'm going east."

"Got it, Sha. Divide and conquer," Tanya replied. The Gold and Silver Rangers split the squadron assaulting them in two and then doubled back around at a rate of speed they couldn't match, firing away until they were space dust. "Twelve down, couple of hundred to go."

Jason's command console whistled and beeped as his radar exploded with enemy activity. The Red Dragon Zord's engines thundered behind the cockpit as he deftly swerved his Zord between two of the huge attack cruisers, blasting a trio of red Zebra star-fighters. His Zord buckled hard as a volley of laser blasts battered his shields from behind. "Everybody keep your eyes open and monitor your shield strength! Kim, you gotta take out that North Tower fast!"

"Easier said then done, hotshot," the Pink Ranger winced, whirling the Pink Crane Zord around a swarm of blazing laser fire while giving them hell herself. Nailing a fighter in front of her, when its wings split in two she swiftly wove between them, her jaw tightened, senses on high alert. The barrage of debris came at her in swarms as she thundered the Crane Zord's engines toward her target. Her Zord angled low, firing away at the broad base of the North Tower that lorded over the dig site. Her bolts bounced away like nothing. "Fuck, what is this thing made of?"

"I can't get a read on any materials. Whatever its made of we've never seen it before." Tanya shouted before executing a sharp left around the South Tower that caused several enemy fighters pursuing and forward attacking to slam into each other, raining space debris in all directions. "Whatever our original plan was, its out the window now."

Aisha flanked Rocky's left wing as they engaged multiple fighters over the broad surface of one of the large warships. Zipping at death-defying speeds, she noticed something strange. "The cruisers are on the move, but they aren't firing at us. I see blaster turrets all around their hull on both sides."

Firing at will as Zebra star-fighters broke apart in the path of her ion-blasters, Kim surged her Crane Zord up behind one of the cruiser's as it began to mimic the other cruisers in creating a perimeter around the massive dig site area. That was a tactical advantage they weren't taking advantage of. Her heart nearly stopped at the implications. "Jase, we're playing out the end of Return of the Jedi."

"Now's not the time for movie references," the Red Ranger declared as the chaotic star-ship battle roared all around him. "What do you see?"

"Those cruisers are trapping us in, but not firing. They're moving into position to cut off any escape routes we might use. With the sheer amount of blasters they have they could take us out easily. They aren't doing it. Remember the end of Return of the Jedi."

Jason quickly caught on. "This is a trap!"

"And if they want to keep us here," Kim hated to admit her theory out-loud, "Then the real target is somewhere else."

"Kim, focus!" Jason groaned as her Zord's blasters lanced the side of the closest cruiser's hull. Gigantic metal plating tore off into space as his ion-blasters ripped the side of the ship to shreds. Suddenly implosions detonated from within the deadly vessel as the Red Dragon Zord flew away. "Okay, change of plans. Break into two's. All Rangers hit the underbelly hulls of those cruisers. Looks like our blasters can get through! Get as close as you can and engage those cruisers at point blank range."

Rocky just had to add, "At that close range we won't last long against those Star Destroyers!"

Kim smirked. "We'll last longer than we we would against that Death Star. And we might just take a few of them with us!"

"Rocky, sis, not the time to quote Star Wars." Nevertheless Jason grinned as they found their first weakness in the enemy today. The sky was ablaze with a maelstrom of blaster-fire as the Rangers battled an armada of Crysis star-fighters. "Hit those cruisers and force them to change tactics. The gravitational array isn't finished and our attack has stalled it. Right now we gotta give Tommy's team time to take out Crysis. Engage those cruisers with a quarter of your missile supply. Let's knock a few out and see if that catches their attention."

"Let's go after that one," Aisha considered with four cruisers circling in their path.

Kimberly shook her head. "Nah, lets take the one with the purple streaks. Reminds me of Becky Simmons dress that day."

Becky Simmons and her low-cut purple dress that she used to perfection to show off her ample teenage cleavage. Her target that day was Tommy, and Aisha knew Kim never forgot that. "Cruiser Becky it is!"

"She's going down!"

"And according to members of our basketball team we know she's done that more than a few times!"  
Aisha and Kim roared the Crane and Silver Eagle Zords through tight, overhead spirals as they swiftly maneuvered toward one of the cruisers and began tearing into it with Nova-missiles, while at the same time outlasting the relentless pursuit of a dozen red Zebra star-fighters. Their Zord shields held up despite the constant barrage each Zord took. The girls banked hard when the entire forward bottom-deck of the cruiser burst in a eruption of fiery debris as the billows of thick smoke ruptured from the gaping hole the Zord's created.

As soon as that first cruiser detonated in a barrage of explosions the remaining cruisers began firing at will, effectively choking the space over the dig site with the Rangers trapped at all sides.

"Close in around the cruisers and pray they keep firing at us and hit a few of their own. As for me, I'm taking out that dig sight now." Jason thundered the Red Dragon Zord alongside Tanya's Golden Eagle as they weaved through the streams of bright laser fire towards their target below, twisting past bolts of erratic laser fire. Their Zord's were being battered with laser fire, but thick in the fight, they persevered towards their goal. The protection of Earth at any cost. "Tanya, cover me. If we can't take out those towers then I'm gonna level the whole damn dig site."

"I've got you in my sights, Red. Good hunting," the Gold Ranger offered.

With newly activated surface laser-batteries firing wildly, Jason carefully navigated the difficult path towards the inner crater, whipping the Red Dragon Zord through insanely dangerous twists and rolls. The dark pit was alive with sunken technology and hummed powerfully. "Here goes nothing"

Nine Nova-missiles blasted from the Red Dragon Zord's wing tips, violently impacting the prominent crater with devastating force that shook the very ground as tremendous electrical explosions rippled up and down both Towers. A gargantuan mushroom cloud grew from the blasts epicenter as Jason soared skyward with massive chunks of rock surging past him. "Rangers, lock up! Force those cruisers to close in on themselves. We gotta..."

Shock and awe often arrive so quietly... and so compellingly one barely has time to respond. Emerging from the gusting, smoky depths of the dig site, several Red Zebra star-fighters stealthily converged on Jason, tearing into his rear shields until they finally buckled and the entire right wing of the Red Dragon Zord detonated. "I'm hit. I'm hit!" The Red Dragon Zord spiraled back down into the thick cloud of swirling moon dust.

"God!" Kim swallowed hard, shifting the Crane Zord away from laser blasts while maintaining her height above the cruisers cannons. "T, can you reach him?"

"I'm on it!"

Jason's Zord was out of sight and with her radar being jammed all that the Pink Ranger could see what the soaring dust cloud. Kim couldn't get there fast enough as there suddenly seemed to be even more enemy fighters reigning down upon them. This was bad and getting worse by the second. Not to mention resources was soon gonna be a issue. Her heart pounded in her chest. "T, status report?"

Grasping the steering column of the Golden Hawk Zord as she weathered a wave of laser fire to save her friend, Tanya replied, "I'm flying blind through this cloud, Pink. I can see fires on the surface, but I'm not sure what's the Red Dragon Zord and what's debris."

"T, you got problems coming your way," Rocky sounded the very alarmed, his heart in his chest as he quickly aimed his Crimson Crow Zord after Tanya's red-blue engine trails. With the raging battle roaring around him, he caught sight of the Golden Hawk Zord engaging its tractor beam over the wreckage of the Red Dragon Zord. "Life signs?"

"Barely, but he's alive. I gotta take him back to Earth now." Tanya never saw what happened next.

Neither did Aisha and Kimberly. Only Rocky saw the spiraling out of control Zebra star-fighter that was suicide diving toward Tanya's Zord.

The truest, more pure essence of being a Ranger was the protection of the defenseless no matter your own personal cost. Such was the case here when Rocky instinctively ignited his Zord's engines into maximum thrust and with no way to fire upon his foe, made the ultimate sacrifice in slamming his Zord into the fighter before it reached Tanya and Jason.

The Crimson Crow Zord exploded into a gusting, fiery wreckage...

Out the corner of her eye Aisha caught sight of a violent explosion inside the rapidly fading dust cloud. Her heart clenched violently. She began to panic, screaming, "Rocky?" Nothing but static. She threw her Zord's full speed down towards the dig sight. "Rocky no... no!"

**The End of Chapter 2**

**Chapter 3: Death visits the Ranger team again as WAR rages above the Earth. Trini faces a no-win scenario. Crysis reveals a shocking secret to Tommy.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: "The Darkest Night"**  
**Written by: Shawn **

**Chapter3/?**

**Summary: Death visits the Ranger team again as WAR rages above the Earth! Trini faces a horrific no-win scenario. Kimberly contemplates a course of action that could save or doom the Earth.**

**Category: Angst/Romance/Drama/Violence/Love Making/Death **

**Rating: MA or everything that falls under that category.**

**Time-line/Spoilers: AU from the moment Jason, Trini, and Zack go to the Peace Conference. In this story they don't leave the team, but Adan, Aisha, and Rocky join as Rangers. Jason and Tommy co-lead the team. This story picks up a year later during the time of Power Rangers Zeo, only Zeo never happened. The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers are Tommy, Kim, Jason, Trini, Zack, Billy, Aisha, Rocky, and Adam.**

**Disclaimer: Disney owns it all now. I own the right to make PR a bit more adult, a bit more serious, and a bit more dramatic.**

**Authors Notes: The mental image I want my readers to have of the Rangers outfits, Zords, and Angel Grove is in line with Mighty Morphing Power Rangers: The Movie. The outfits will be the body-armor type and the city is big, bright, and more what you would expect from a real city instead of what's portrayed on the TV show. Expect a more serious approach to protecting the Earth and how Zordon commands the team.**

**Authors Notes 2: All Rangers are 18 and the story is set near the end of their senior year of High School.**

**Authors Notes 3: This series is being extended a bit longer than the two chapters I originally planned.**  
**Authors Notes 4: This story will feature/mention a slash relationship.**

**Dedicated to: SYuuri aka Liz the Great:)**

**"Grace means more than gifts. In grace something is transcended, once and for all overcome. Grace happens in spite of something; it happens in spite of separateness and alienation. Grace means that life is once again united with life, self is reconciled with self. Grace means accepting the abandoned one. Grace transforms fate into a meaningful vocation. It transforms guilt to trust and courage. The word grace has something triumphant in it."**

**~ Yrjo Kallinen**

**"The Rune"**  
**Domminair-Class Warship **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997 **

**Far side of the moon**

No matter the countless covert missions, harrowing rescues, and dangerous battles the Rangers engaged in, tonight's endeavor eclipsed them all.

"Eyes alert, everyone." Tommy took the point, boldly walking in front of the seven-hundred pound E.M.P. bomb that was cloaked to resemble a Xion-energy cell for one of the smaller star-freighters docked high above their heads. The mild hum of the bombs anti-gravity lift-array made it easy to push across the sprawling black-top star-ship hanger bay as they maneuvered past numerous rolling droids and large tractor-like vehicles hauling machinery.

The sheer expanse of the hanger stretched as wide and far as the eye could see, with rows of mid-sized star-ships hanging from ceiling-mounted launch pads. The area was alive with the noise of echoed droid chatter and little else. Dark red and gold decor reigned throughout as the four-person team made their way towards a far passage that led to the small cross-way Billy felt was ideal to detonate the bomb.

Using a scrambled communication frequency inside their helmets, Trini reported, "Nine armed soldiers crossing behind us. They paid us no mind."

"Security droid to our left, closing in," Adam noted as the tri-limbed machine came to hover above them, its single red eye glowing. The Green Ranger's heart raced as he clutched the hilt of his blaster. "It's scanning the bomb. So far our our signal disruptor is working."

Katherine breathed a mild sigh of relief when the droid lifted off, moving back towards the landing bay's entrance. "That was close." She watched several groups of soldiers pass them, counting heads as the awe of how outnumbered they were began to sink in the deeper inside the vessel they journeyed. Just as Zordon's briefing detailed, Crysis mastery of Tech-Sorcery was evident within his minions. The various alien races that made up his soldiers were missing sections of their flesh body, now replaced with cyborg or genetically altered material. They were grotesque to say the least, remade in their God's image. "What's our distance to the cross-way?"

"Six minutes at our current pace," Tommy replied while memorizing the wall-mounted security cams as they moved past. "If we move any faster we'll draw suspicion."

"Tommy, I'm getting nothing but static when I try to contact Jason's team." Trini's jaw tightened. "Our signal is triple-encrypted and filtered through the Omega-firewall Billy designed himself."

"Tri, we're being jammed."

"How is that even possible?"

Tommy considered how deep they were side in the alien vessel with no signs of trouble thus far. He hadn't been able to hail Jason or Kim before leaving their shuttle and the base wasn't under any sort of high alert despite the war he knew was raging on the other side of the moon. "Crysis is two steps ahead of us and has been from the start. We are on our own and our mission takes precedence until we re-establish communication with Jason's team."

"When it all comes crashing down, give'em hell," Katherine declared as the cross-way they sought was within visual range. "Twenty-five feet ahead. My energy signals are going through the roof."

"Let's go!" Adam and the others began sprinting with the bomb towards the narrow cross-way - a slender wire-bridge that extended in four directions, hung above a gigantic swirling power cell embedded deep in the vessel's floor. "Tommy?"

"Do it!" Suddenly Tommy heard dozens of footsteps converge around the team out of nowhere.

A green-skinned humanoid soldier clad in red and gold body armor confronted the team. Behind him, heavily armed alien soldiers circled the Rangers with their weapons at the ready. "IN THE NAME OF HIS EXCELLENCY, CRYSIS. YOU ARE ALL UNDER ARREST!"

"In the name of the Power Rangers," Adam said while raising his hand, a small device in his palm, he proclaimed, "Fuck you."

The E.M.P detonated with a deafening burst of pure, blinding energy that buckled the floor so violently everyone was throw off their feet, spiraling through the air as the incredible discharge of energy rocketed through the entire star-ship. Machines, droids, and ceiling-attached fighters came crashing down all around them in chaotic fashion. One by one, rows of devices, wall monitors, ceiling illumination rods, and floor lights all powered down.

The entire ship went deathly silent.

Gasping inside his helmet, Tommy slowly rose to his feet. He quickly noticed that his all his internal systems were down. Darkness surrounded them like a shroud of pure midnight. The bomb worked. Now came the hard part.

All at once emergency crimson-red lights burst from the ceiling. Sirens blared loudly!

"Rangers!" Tommy shouted. "Take them!"

Blinding ricochets of multicolored laser fire battered walls and fallen debris as the Rangers and Crysis forces engaged in lethal combat. The crisscrossing firefight roared as nearby entrance-doors buckled from the blasts, imploding while blustering infernos ignited around damaged star-fighters and downed droids. The emergency lights red-tinged world around them exploded in chaos!

The Rangers attacked in perfect coordination - a symphony of violence orchestrated by those trying to save their world. Back to back and side-by-side they battled enormous odds against overwhelming numbers.

Racing forward, Tommy somersaulted over a burning star-fighter while wildly firing his laser blaster mid-leap, taking out five soldiers. Upon landing he quickly tossed a small circular device at the feet of four more. It detonated with a blinding burst of light, giving him a fraction of second to take them all out with precise head shots. Their bodies crumbled to the floor.

Spinning around when heavy footsteps drew his attention, two laser blasts cracked against his chest plate, knocking the White Ranger clear off his feet. He deftly back-flipped upright, ducking a soldier's attempt to slice his head off with a razor-sharp blade attached to the end of his rifle. Tommy smacked his chest, and then roundhouse kicked the attacker in the face so powerfully he went flying into a nearby wall, the sound of bones snapping as he embedded into the newly cracked surface.

The soldier spit out five teeth, snarling at the White Ranger, "You're going to die Ranger!"

"You first."

The soldier heard a faint ticking sound. His head bent, and then he saw a small silver device attacked to his armor. Three green lights became two... two became one... and then one...

He exploded, literally. Limbs and blood splattered everywhere.

Adam slash-blocked a four-armed lizard-like soldier utilizing four laser swords with his own, then back-rolled from a eruption of fire as another soldier's flame thrower tried to fry him alive. The Green Ranger side-kicked a jagged piece of metal from one of the fighters at the soldier with the flame thrower. The diversion worked as Adam attacked with flickering strikes so fast the alien attempted to turn and fell in half, its mid-section separated.

The four-armed soldier's long tongue swept over its leathery lips. "Long have we waited to murder our God's enemies." Its tightly muscled arms extended each glowing-red blade forward while rising to its full eight-foot height. "Your blood staining my armor with bring great honor to me."

Ever the Silent Warrior, Adam assessed his enemy, then attacked! Their blades locked as the Green Ranger leapt away from a series of violent slashes, soaring away from the relentless attack of four laser swords. Adam flipped on-top of a half-burnt star-fighter, smashed his fist through the cockpit and grabbed a handful of glass.

"FACE ME RANGER!"

The Green Ranger advanced on his four-armed prey, his laser sword upraised. Battling one-handed, he defended against a onslaught of death-cuts until he found his moment to strike. Having crushed the glass in his hand, he threw it into the face of the solider as it howled in pure agony. The Green Ranger performed violent surgery, severing three of the creature's arms before it's last arm slashed his blade aside. Adam backed away as the creature screamed in pain, swinging wildly.

Peering upward, Adam, tossed his laser-sword from his hand. The blade cut through the air, narrowly missing the head of the solider.

"You missed," it spat out blood.

"Wait for it," Adam replied. Wrenching noise of metal tearing from metal screeched through the air as a ceiling-mounted star-fighter crashed on top of the solider, crushing it. "I don't miss."

Trini and Kat fired back-to-back, erasing soldiers with deadly accuracy as they mowed down their foes. When the Yellow Ranger ducked, the Purple threw a exploding dagger over her shoulder that struck a soldier dead in its chest, detonating a hole when its heart once was. Over Kat's hip, Trini tossed a handful of small silver marbles at four rapidly advancing soldiers. Each step over them, they exploded like miniature landmines.

Leaping over a series of destroyed star-fighters, whirling around walls of flames, they fought furiously. When Trini executed a rising parry with her laser sword, Katherine drove the end of her blade through the attacker's rib cage. Then Trini deflected a series of laser blasts from three soldiers stationed behind a large chunk of debris. She flipped over the debris, deflecting more blasts mid-leap, and then rained slices on her opponents, separating them from their lives. The sudden sound of a blaster cocking behind her was cut short when the Purple Ranger fire several shots into the soldier's back.

Energetically leaping, the Yellow and Purple Rangers twisted in mid-air, landing to engage nine soldiers in closed quarters combat. Fists and kicks so powerful bones broke and jaws shattered as Crysis soldiers were no match for the Power Rangers. Trini threw a soldier through a wall that collapsed on top of it. Katherine drove her laser sword through the chest of one soldier into another behind it, then spun away to duck a crushing blow by another. Trini unleashed a laser whip, curling the end around the soldier's ankle, snapping it off its feet. Kat crushed her foot down on its neck, breaking bone through skin.

"Incoming!" Trini's gaze turned skyward as scores of newly arrived soldiers began to descend from a nearby overhead crosswalk. "Kat, we gotta roll."

The Purple Ranger nodded, now clutching her blaster and one of the downed soldier's hand-pistols. "We need to take this fight to Crysis now!"

"THIS WAY!" Tommy shouted up ahead, with Adam by his side. the battleground around them was littered with dozens of dead soldiers, but their numbers seemed limitless and the Rangers wouldn't be able to hold out forever.

"What's the plan?" Katherine asked.

"Billy's schematics showed down that long corridor ahead, about two-hundred feet housed many of the ship's electrical systems controls. Either we find Crysis or a way to blow this ship up. One way or another this ends tonight!"

"Let's move!" Trini took the point as the Rangers blasted their way to the long dark corridor as the vast ship began filling with clouds of smoke and fire. They were ready for anything, but found little resistance as they ventured further down the path until a light shown from around the corner. "Look!"

"Check it out." Tommy halted everyone's steps, lifting a finger to his helmet's mouth. They stopped at the end of the hall and then he peered around the corner slowly. Everyone heard him gasp, and then followed their leader.

A sole lit torch illuminated a blood-stained wall, with the ominous phrase written in crimson, "Rangers, party this way -" Bodies were piled on the floor beneath the words. They looked to be in astronaut spacesuits.

Adam ran toward them, careful to make sure they were not booby-trapped. He checked their helmets, groaning as all four were in heavy stages of decomposition "Tommy, these are the astronauts that went missing from the Kliper."

That word resonated in Tommy's mind. "That's the Russian Federal Space Agency shuttle that went missing six months ago, right?"

"Yeah, I remember Zordon had Zack and I sweep the atmosphere half the night searching for it." Upon closer inspection, "Six months..." Katherine quietly repeated while looking to her teammates. "If Crysis has been here at least that long then he's well prepared for us. We've been had."

Tommy declared, "We're walking into a trap."

Trini looked to him. "So what's next?"

"We spring the trap."

**Above the Moon **

**Dig site **

**Far side of the Moon, the lunar hemisphere that is permanently turned away from the Earth **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997**

With tears streaming down her face after Rocky's death, Kimberly barrel-rolled the Crane Zord away from a sudden barrage of deadly laser fire as she deftly navigated the claustrophobic space between two of the massive alien warships firing on her. All the while following the Silver Eagle Zord's violent warpath. Her heart-broken teammate was flying recklessly, blasting everything in her path. "Sha, dammit, keep your head in the game! You have to conserve your ammunition!"

Aisha felt as if she were gasping for every single breath she took, her hands shaking as she veered her Zord over and around one of the alien vessel's before tearing holes into its side, scrapping shards of metal through space. "I'm going to make them pay!"

"You can't do that if you're dead!"

"What if it was Tommy you just watched die?" Aisha shouted through her intercom while blowing away a trio of star-fighters, then zipping through the space shrapnel of their remains to chase another squad. "There's only two of us and its not looking good that we're gonna make it outta this alive. So I plan to kill as many of those motherfuckers as I can."

"Dammit!" Kim swore under her breath, and then spared a glance at her energy-array fuel reserve, missiles left, and laser-blaster cells. She was soon gonna be running on fumes and couldn't reach Tommy's team or Billy and the Command Center. Her heart clenched like a fist as she dreaded ever learning of her ex-boyfriend's death. She rather die out here than... "We need to stick together, sis. No matter what."

"We can't... I can't even recover his body... his family, oh God," Aisha choked out the words as new tears wet her eyes. Her trigger finger was non-stop, blistering red Zebra-class star-fighters with deadly laser blasts. "I hate them!"

"We'll get our pound of flesh, sis." Kim flew in tandem with the Silver Eagle Zord as they evaded two of the larger warships side-cannons that were now firing at them, even hitting some of their own pursuing star-fighters to try and kill them. "I think we need to make a run for it back to Ear..."

At once all hell broke loose when the huge warship on their right suddenly buckled sideways side, seemingly imploding as a series of tremendous blasts began tearing it apart. Huge fragments of debris splintered through fire and gusting billows of dark smoke as the warship literally cracked in two.

"Fuck!" Aisha banked her Zord hard away from the explosions. "Pink, sharp left!"

"You don't have to tell me twice!" The destruction of the alien warship rattled the Crane Zord so violently she almost lost control while following Aisha's afterburner trails, blazing away from the destroyed warship as Crysis fighters began swarming in a different direction. "Where the hell did that explosion come from?"

Aisha's radar suddenly exploded with blue dots. Blue was recognized as Ranger-tech. "Looks like the cavalry just arrived."

An armada of Winged Prey Zords burst through what was left of the warship wreckage as the White Falcon, Black Nightingale, Purple Mockingbird, Yellow Sparrow, Green Buzzard, and Billy's Blue Vulture Zords tore into Crysis forces.

"My apologies ladies for this belated arrival of reinforcements," Billy noted through his intercom. "Once all communications were disabled with you guys and Tommy's team I implemented the other Zord's mobile artificial intelligence protocols. They know who the enemy is and who we are," he explained. "Tanya got Jason to Angel Grove Memorial Hospital, but we have no current update on his prognosis. And I am so sorry for Rockford's death."

"He died a hero," Aisha added, her heart heavy with grief. "Don't feel sorry for him. Feel sorry for Crysis when we tear him apart."

"Affirmative," Billy replied. "Zordon's placed this mission under your control, Kimberly."

Kim blinked hard. "Why not you, Billy?"

"You have the most aerial space-battle experience of the three of us." He amended with, "And I have no ego to bruise."

"Thanks, Spock." Kimberly imagined Billy's smile at the mention of his all-time favorite Star Trek character. "Okay, the Sparrow, Buzzard, and Mockingbird are our smallest and fastest Zord's. We have to change the rhythm of this battle from us being the reactionary ones to them. I want each of those Zord's to ram into the alien warships engine thrusts. Have all on-board missiles armed."

Billy began evasive maneuvers as a fresh wave of fighters roared around him. This was not his element, but he handled the pressure well. "That will dwindle our already rather insignificant numbers."

"Taking out three more of their big warships gives us a fighting chance to win this battle. And if we do that then we can go after Crysis main warship. But to get there we have to take care of business here. There's no way we're going to last much longer with those warships out there."

"New directives have been programmed," Billy devised without a second thought. "Engaged."

The Blue Vulture, Silver Eagle, and Pink Crane Zords formed one squad while the White Falcon and Black Nightingale formed a second. The Yellow Sparrow, Green Buzzard, and Purple Mockingbird's forward shields were battered by constant waves of enemy laser fire as they suicide-bombed the rear of three separate warships, slamming into them with their missiles armed.

Tremendous explosions lit the Moon's sky as the trio of warships shattered in a cataclysm of detonations that saw the remaining three warships drift apart and many of the fighters destroyed from burning remnants of the ships. Blast after blast shook the heavens.

Kimberly watched the whole spectrum of the battle change before her very eyes, but still dreaded what was to come. "Billy, I need a read on those towers energy levels? Jason hit them with everything he had and they're still standing."

Upon checking his on-board scanners, Billy's throat clenched. "Their energy levels have amplified substantially since I arrived. Neither of the towers seem to be suffering from power fluctuations or electrical issues. There are no radiative leaks."

"What do you think?" Kim asked.

"They are preparing to activate. And by that, I mean soon."

"Can you hack into its command system?"

"Negative... mostly. I can't seem to shut it down, but I think I've broken their encrypted firewall to gauge the precise coordinates it intends to maneuver the moon. But even if I caused them to overload the moon will still shift and Earth would be destroyed in its wake."

Kim's jaw tightened while flanking Aisha's right wing. "How long before those towers are ready to operate?"

"By my best estimates I would say twenty minutes."

Kimberly saw the fate of Earth before her very eyes. Her family and every other dying in an Armageddon of natural disasters that would exterminate all life on the planet. The weight of all her little dreams for the future... Of her and Tommy... "Options? Anyone?"

"Billy, this is on you," Aisha noted. "I say we hit those towers again with everything we got and sacrifice the Falcon and Nightingale Zords, but even that might not work. Jason threw everything and the kitchen sink at it already."

William James Cranston, considered one of the most brilliant minds in the entire galaxy felt humbled by what he faced. Devising a true plan took foresight, careful planning, and numerous tests. Tonight he had none at his disposal. Flying his Zord at break-neck speeds battling countless fighters while attempting to calibrate possible scenarios for saving the Earth with the limited access he now had to Crysis towers proved a near impossible task. He sighed, "Barring Tommy's team discovering a kill switch of some sort on Crysis main star-ship, I just don't..."

"Billy, the Ranger's cloaked satellite. Our early warning system for off-world attacks," Kim questioned. "How powerful is it?"

"You have to be more specific?"

"Could it reproduce the synchronous rotation of the moon?"

Her question made and didn't make sense at the same time. "Theoretically, yes. The Vector array dish is solar powered and built to shield and repel gigantic meteor attacks on the Earth. We built it to withstand cataclysmic explosions should our war with Lord Zedd damage the moon's orbit. But why would..." And then it hit him, but he prayed he was wrong. She wasn't suggesting that... "Kim?"

"Give me any other option to take down those towers before they shift the moons orbit?"

Billy's heart pounded in his chest. He exhaled, "There's not enough time. And even if we moved the moon back into its original orbit the damage on Earth would already be done."

"Then there is only one way to protect Earth," Kim relayed to her team with a heavy heart and a silent prayer for the life of her other half and their teammates. "We have to destroy the moon."

**"The Rune"**  
**Domminair-Class Warship **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997 **

**Far side of the moon**

With the ominous sounds of ear-splitting explosions and violent barrages of laser-fire coming from the direction Tommy and Adam ventured off to, the Yellow and Purple Rangers pressed onward with heavy hearts. The guys were creating a deadly diversion for them by going in head-on at Crysis forces. Two teams, in Tommy's estimation, moving through this mammoth starship had a better chance of success than one.

Time was running out and with no word from Jason's team they focused solely on what they had to do here. Nothing else mattered.

With both her hands clasping the handle of her ion-blaster, Katherine spared a desperate glance at Trini as they quietly traversed a long, dark passageway in the other direction. "What's the first thing you want to do when this night is over with?"

Soft brown eyes focused on the hand-held motion detector in the palm of her hand, Trini declared without much forethought, "Kiss you again."

Despite the dire circumstances they found themselves in, Katherine's heart skipped a beat nonetheless. Her lips parted and then shut as the immense elephant in the room... their most private... something... the fear of this new thing between them that no one had a clue about, including them, shook her up inside. But the moment they shared on that long stretch of highway three months ago was forever branded in her memory. The sweetest kiss she'd ever received, and by a girl no less.

Katherine still hadn't quite wrapped her mind around it yet. "I'm going to hold you to that."

"I'd expect nothing less."

Kat heard the smile behind Trini's helmet in the cute tone of her voice. Their intimate moment died the second the motion-detector began beeping loudly. Red-dots peppered the small LCD display. "We got company!"

"Twenty-five feet and to the right. I'm picking up encrypted communications being sent and received. Don't have a clue how they are doing it. Maybe they're using emergency power." Trini noted multiple non-Ranger entities ahead. "I think it might be a communications room of some kind."

"Anything in particular you can make out?"

"No time to do it since this encryption is way beyond my skills," Trini replied. "But if this place is transmitting we might be able to turn it to our advantage. And if we're lucky get word to our people."

Katherine's acute hearing picked up the unmistakable sounds of heavy boots ahead. "We got company. They're about to round that corner."

Trini dug inside her utility belt. "Then let's give them a proper Ranger greeting."

A dozen of Crysis heavily-armed alien soldiers swept around the corner, their heavy weapons trained high, laser sights blazing bright red lines through the darkness as they spread out. It was only the rapid beeping of the twin cylinder's attached to both sides of the wall that they realized they were all dead.

One incredibly powerful blast detonated with shocking force, spiraling fiery debris and thick clouds of smoke in all directions as the soldier's dismembered bodies littered the floor.

Furious laser-fire splintered through the billows of smoke as the Rangers leapt through the air, landing amidst a crowd of newly-arrived soldiers that were caught off-guard. There was a wicked symmetry to the Rangers art of war, brandishing laser swords and blasters simultaneously, violently slaying everything in their path as they fought all the way down the hall towards their hoped-for goal.

Outnumbered and outgunned, the Purple and Yellow Ranger's battled relentlessly, both accepting that tonight would end with Crysis death or their own. There was no other acceptable outcome as Earth's fate hung in the balance.

The soldiers attacked them with extreme ruthlessness, coming two and three at a time wielding every type of weapon imaginable. But none possessed the immense physical strength, awe-inspiring speed, or agility of a Ranger.

A curved, razor-sharp blade jutting from the end of one laser rifle whistled past Trini's face as she deftly dodged the strike, wickedly slashing up her attacker's body, tearing into its chest with her laser sword. As the soldier crumbled to the floor she spun on her heel, quickly deflecting a array of laser fire with her sword before three blasts cracked into her chest armor. They sent her flying across the hall, slamming her into the wall. She quickly recovered to her feet, soaring away before a volley of laser shots ricocheted where she once was.

Trading blows with a one-eyed reptilian soldier who towered above her, Katherine's fist connected with its face in a force of brutality, crushing its jaw, sending the alien flying backward into three more. The Purple Ranger quickly threw a handful of Pyro-nodes at them, immediately setting all four soldiers on fire. Their screams echoed off the walls as more soldiers arrived, firing wildly!

Kat and Trini charged toward their goal, murdering dozens of Crysis soldiers, their breaths pressed tight in their chests as the sounds of screams and gunfire rioted in their warpath. Crysis forces thirsted for violence as they attacked, but were met with incredible tenacity and courage of the Rangers. As the mammoth dark hall filled with blustering fire, the Ranger's night-vision gave them an added advantage against the overwhelming numbers they faced.

At the end of the hall was a dead-end with a entrance door. Leaping overhead, Katherine beheaded one soldier, then found the wind knocked out of her when she was viciously tackled to the floor by a burly beast-solider. Bone-shattering blows reigned down on her helmet until it cracked before she mule-kicked him off of her.

"You're going to die for that, human!" The growling solider spit a mouthful of teeth on the floor before roaring after her.

Rolling over and then back to her feet, Kat quickly ducked a lunging punch, grabbed the soldier by his chest straps and threw him into another that was about to fire. Standing over them with laser sword in hand, the Purple Ranger rammed the blade threw them both in one smooth strike. "Lights out. Goodnight!"

"YOU CAN'T WIN!"

"That's what all our enemies say just before they die!" Trini retorted verbally, and then with a wicked roundhouse kick that snapped the soldier's neck, splintering bone through flesh as his trigger finger kept firing even as he died. Deadly stray laser fire killed a number of his own men as the Rangers soared out of the way, having finally reached the entrance door to what they hoped was their salvation.

"1!"

"2!"

"3!"

The massive metal door cracked and buckled from its heavy wall-bearings when the Ranger's forward kicked through it. The huge frame fell with audible thud as red-tinged alarms blared loudly. Inside there were several unarmed aliens who quickly fled their techno-workstations, fleeing the room through wall-mounted escape tubes before the Rangers could interrogate them.

Katherine and Trini's first observation of this broad chamber was that this definitely appeared to be a communications station of some kind. Two rows of computer terminals complete with monitors and head-sets sat on a separate tier near the center of the room. They were all operating, completely lit up. The entire back wall was a full holographic representation of the space battle between the Ranger's Zords and Crysis forces on the other side of the moon.

"T, get to work on those consoles and see if you can get word to our guys. I'm gonna barricade us in here and keep watch," Katherine said as she holstered her weapons. But before Trini could reply subtle clapping was heard from the other side of the room.

"I've studied you Rangers for a very long time now... I must say, I'm impressed."

The Rangers gazes peered toward the ominously cold voice as it approached. From the shadows like a ghost, he appeared. Tall, wiry with compact muscle, he possessed humanoid features with long gray hair that fell over the hard lines of his face. Half his chest appeared rebuilt with bionics while each of his hands held curved blade-knives. Clad in red and black form-fitted attire, he moved as if he walked on air rather than the ground itself.

"Pardon my bad manners. I read that its appropriate to introduce oneself upon a first meeting," he noted calmly as he appeared fully from the dark. "My name is Nomad. I am one of my Lord Crysis Elite Guard."

Stepping forward, Katherine reignited her laser sword. And the sound of Trini's followed. "We're the Power Rangers. And we're here to escort you to the hereafter."

"And here I thought we might chat and get to know one another. Katherine Hillard is such a strange name to me. Then again, I am from a world on the other side of the universe." Nomad moved around the Rangers, looking away as if their presence was more of a nuisance than a threat. "Trini Kwan is rather odd to me as well."

First things first, if either of the Ranger's had any lingering doubts that Crysis forces were watching Earth long before tonight they were dashed. Trini knew this attack had been long in preparation and a trap in every way. "I'm going to give you one chance, Nomad," the Yellow Ranger declared. "You help us stop Crysis and you can take a escape shuttle and go anywhere free and clear.

Nomad gave as close to a smile as he was capable of. "Or?"

"Your life ends tonight," Trini replied, her laser sword held high and at the ready.

"You know," Nomad began as he closed in on the duo, "I have waited over two hundred Earth years to face a living Ranger in combat. Please... please make it worth the wait." Pausing for a moment, his hands tightly gripped his knife-blades. "Time to die!"

The Purple and Yellow Rangers were attacked at once, relentlessly and with fury. Nomads slashes were like streaks of lightening as the Ranger's parried his deadly attacks while countering with their own. Though outnumbered two-to-one, Nomad battled with a style of swift up-close combat and venomous intensity.

Swiping aside two of Trini's laser sword cuts, Nomad launched at her. She retrieved her blaster, but he threw one of his blades mid-air, knocking her blaster aside. Before she could bring her laser sword around to shield herself he was upon her, only to scream at the vicious slice down his back that tore through his outfit. Spinning on his heel even as his blood flowed, Nomad connected with Katherine's chest. The blow sent the Purple Ranger flying over a row of computer terminals.

"DIE!"

The Purple Ranger swerved out of the way as Nomad's blade came crashing down into the computer terminal. Trini tackled him from behind, flinging them both to the floor. They swiftly rose back to their feet, trading an array of vicious blows as well as fighting styles that saw them both somersaulting through the air to pick up the battle once more near the entrance of the room.

"Pathetic Ranger!" Nomad faked moving right, glided left and slammed his shoulder into Trini's ribs so hard into the wall part of it buckled and cracked. The Yellow Ranger crushed her knee upward, ramming into Nomad's chest. Her fists began crashing into his face, bloodying and bruising the alien before a wicked back-hand separated them.

Nomad had a second to duck a wicked slash from Katherine's laser sword that tore through a metal railing, revealing a sparking electrical line. He had no time to block the incredibly powerful roundhouse kick that battered his back into the outlet. The electrical charge coursed through him in waves...

... and as Katherine helped Trini to her feet, she noticed Nomad's body seemed to fade in and out, appearing almost holographic. His face was a mask of intense, agonizing pain. "Give it up, Nomad. You can't win. But you can still survive! Help us and we will let you go. Otherwise you're a dead man."

Tasting his blood in his mouth, Nomad wiped his mouth with the back of his free hand. "Dead man... Hmm, hold that thought."

"What in the..." Trini, laser sword in hand could barely complete her thought upon watching Nomad's body evolve into a smoldering cloud of smoke that rushed outside the room entrance. Before anymore could be said one of Crysis soldiers raced in, his laser firing wildly. The Rangers parted, quickly soaring on opposite sides of the room.

"Hi ladies. Miss me!" Nomad's voice came from the soldier's lips, as its eyes were clear white and its throat slit.

"He's a spirit-jumper!" Kat looked to Trini, nodded, and then charged in.

Nomad attacked like a suicidal maniac, firing with blind anger, and when his 'Host' was cut down he simply spirit-jumped to another body. One after another after another, with his every attack wearing down the Rangers culminated with his untagging four sonic grenades on the chest-plate of his latest 'Host'. He ran at the Rangers full bore, absorbing all their blaster fire until his 'host' blood flowed everywhere!

The detonation pummeled the Rangers, blowing them clear off their feet through a metal-based wall into a small alcove in the far corner of the room. With both of their helmets inoperable, the Rangers tossed them aside. Nomad reformed his natural body, recovered his knife-blades, and sought to end this bloody conflict.

Gasping for air, his back on fire from a long bleeding wound, Nomad stood over Trini, and then violently slammed his blade into her right shoulder. She cried out horribly, the weapon piercing her Ranger armor to sink deeply into her. The sound of her agony was music to his ears. "What you Rangers fail to understand is that we have blood-hated you long before you were ever born. Tonight we will finally have our revenge!"

"Over my dead body." Katherine launched herself at Nomad before he could kill Trini, her laser sword aimed at his heart. But a heartbeat before it pierced his skin, Nomad faded once more, and then his smoke form entered her mouth fully, soaring into her body.

"KAT!" Trini shouted at the top of her lungs.

The Purple Ranger dropped her laser sword, both her hands clutched her throat as she choked for air... as her mind felt as if it was being torn asunder inside her skull until her eyes shifted white and she stood up fully. Turning to the Yellow Ranger, a cold voice noted, "Sorry, Kat's not in the building anymore."  
+ Her jaw tight with pain and rage, Trini rose once more to her feet, laser sword clutched tightly in hand. "Let her go!"

"She's mine now," Nomad delivered without a trace of good within him. The sheer strength and power of a Ranger enthralled him fully! "And now... I will kill you."

Trini forward flipped out of the way of Katherine's laser sword, then parried several relentless slashes, shifting and dodging out of the way as they traded cuts and parries. "Katherine, I know you're in there. Fight him!"

"Shut up!" Nomad grunted while tearing through Trini's armored sleeve, slicing into the flesh of her forearm. The Yellow Ranger's blood dripped with every backward step she took. "She's mine now! All her power! All her strength and her..." Suddenly, Nomad began shaking violently, clutching his his head. "No!"

Trini watched as Katherine's eyes shifted back from blue to white rapidly. Her body convulsed powerfully, resembling a seizure of sorts as her weapon fell from her hand. "Kat, fight it! I believe in you!"

Falling to her knees, Katherine screamed from the pit of her very soul, and then collapsed on the floor. Trini was by her side in a second, lifting her into a sitting position, wrapping her arms around her. "I... can't fight him much longer," she panted wildly as crimson dripped from her lips, her face glistening with perspiration. "He's in my mind and ... he's going to kill you. He'll make me do it!"

"We'll find a way," Trini swore to her, tears wetting her eyes as she pressed a kiss to Katherine's temple. "Maybe... maybe I can get you out of here."

Shaking her head, Katherine's body shivered as she struggled to hold on for a bit longer. "Sweetheart, he's inside me and he will use me to kill you, and then the rest of our friends. He won't stop. I was able to look inside his thoughts. He's filled with utter hatred and out for revenge against us. But his... his powers are affected by electricity somehow. I saw it happen to him earlier." Shifting in Trini's arms, Katherine knew she was about to break her heart. To ask this final, impossible task... "He won't stop until you are dead. He feels how much stronger and faster a Ranger is. He knows what our power feels like now and he won't give it up. So I have to stop him the only way I can." Lifting her hand took nearly all the strength she had as her fingers softly caressed Trini's face, the pad of her thumb smoothed aside a lone tear that fell. "Please don't hate me for asking you to do this."

As her thoughts cleared, Trini shook her head. Hot tears descended her cheeks. She simply could not... would not...

"You have to kill me while we are... while we..." Katherine's focus was fleeing her as Nomad roared for control. "He's in my mind, Trini! He's going to kill you... I can't let him... Don't make me do that, please. Stop him... please!"

"Katherine," the cherished name slipped from Trini's lips the moment the Purple Ranger shot off away from her, scrambling on the floor for her laser sword. There was not a measure of hope to be found as Trini had no options left. Earth and the life of her friends hung in the balance. Every Ranger knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the true cost of this life might be their own. So she rose to her feet once more, courage empowering her.

Savage satisfaction lit Nomad's white eyes. "She is lost to you, human. Gone forever! I own her now!"

"The hell you do!"

Ruthless, frantic laser sword fighting erupted when Trini attacked without mercy. She fought heartlessly as her own was broken beyond repair, driving Nomad backwards toward the entrance of the communications room. Bound and determined, she was unstoppable! Wielding the skill of a surgeon and consumed with rage, the Yellow Ranger managed to parry a wild slice, and then forcefully kick the laser sword out of Katherine's hand, backing her into the torn wall, its electrical sparks snapping wildly.

And for but a moment white eyes returned to sky blue once more. "I love you. Always," softly escaped Katherine lips. Her bloody hand lunged into the walls opening as she grabbed at the torn electrical line. Nomad tried to phase from within her but was trapped. In her inner thoughts she swore to him, "You're coming with me!"

The last act of this sad battle, the sound of her blaster discharging would haunt Trini Kwan forever. Three shots in success, all to the heart she coveted above all others. Katherine's bloodied body hung against the wall before slowly sliding down to the floor as her eyes fell shut. Ghostly phantom waves shifted about her, struggling to escape, but died at long last.

Katherine Hillard and Nomad were dead.

Trini fell to her knees, her blaster falling from her hands, head bowed as she cried her heart out in the dark. She begged God to let her wake from this dark dream, but found only the sound of her heart beating as evidence that this was all to real. His fists clenched so tightly at the unfairness of it all. To lose something so potentially precious before it even began.

Life was infinitely cruel and tonight would live with her forever.

"Adversity doesn't build character, it reveals it." Her father's words of wisdom the day Trini's grandmother died. They breathed new life into the Yellow Ranger as she rose from the floor, wiping her tears aside. She calmly walked over to Katherine's body, marveling how lovely she was and how they never had time to truly discover what could of been. But in that moment she knew that she loved the beautiful Australian.

And that tonight Crysis would pay with his very life for taking Katherine away from her.

**"The Rune"**  
**Domminair-Class Warship **

**Just outside the throne room of Crysis **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997**

**Far side of the moon**

"Time to end this!"

Gasping for every breath he inhaled as his lungs felt like they were on fire, Tommy wrenched a blood-soaked Saba from the gruesome chest-wound of Thanos, leader of Crysis Elite Guards. Kneeling over the dead yellow-skinned behemoth, the White Ranger found his body armor was drenched in purple blood. It dripped from his face after his helmet was destroyed moments ago during the fight. The vile scent of death surrounded him as the shadowy tunnel leading here was filled with the dead bodies of Crysis soldiers.

Their lifelessness a bold testament to the war Tommy brought to their master's door step.

While proudly rising to his feet once more despite with every single muscle in his body screaming at him, Tommy glared hatefully at the massive stone entrance to Crysis throne room. Behind him he could hear frantic laser-fire and the sounds of conflict. Adam was still alive. The 'Quiet Storm' as his friends called him was buying Tommy every second of time he could. As for the rest, the White Ranger had no clue about Katherine or Trini, but trusted their abilities.

Jason's team on the other side of the moon... there hadn't been any word at all since the mission began. Shutting his eyes for a moment, he gave them what he could, a silent prayer for their safety. And an extra one for the woman he loved more than his own life. And then it was back to business!

Because right here, right now, Crysis had to die!

A single step forward saw the gigantic stone-wall ominously part as smoldering heat from within bit at Tommy's face. Wincing painfully, his eyes blurred at first before adjusting to the heightened temperature. Dust settled all around him as he entered slowly, Saba gripped tightly in his fist. The ground beneath his feet was as purely reflective as any mirror he'd ever seen, and its image was of outer space as the glass-domed ceiling provided its reflection. The spectacle alone was awe-inspiring as the sense of the entire universe being present set in.

The tremendous heat of the colossal throne room rose from a massive stone fire pit that led to and surrounded a staircase with a throne at the apex. From what Tommy could make out, the throne was made of bones that had once been living creatures. Through the fiery haze and dark smoke he saw a being rise to his feet. The White Ranger's steps drew short about ten feet away from the staircase as hellfire and brimstone set the stage.

Crysis and Tommy continued to stare each other down. The living cape of midnight-smoke billowed around the Demi-God as observed his enemy. Oh how he has waited for the time of his vengeance to truly begin. And that time was now! "We have reached our moment," he declared darkly, his voice echoed throughout the massive throne room.

"You're going to die!"

Crysis gave a cold smile, noting the disarray and obvious pain the embattled White Ranger was in. Thanos and two dozen of his soldiers had taken a heavy toll, and yet still he stood, proudly. Zordon's champion... Red-rage burned at his very soul. "Long before you were ever born our destinies were entwined, Thomas. But here, now, on this grand stage with your entire world hanging in the balance... we've reached our moment."

To hell with the pain aching throughout his body, Tommy stood his ground as the fires around him roared to life. "I'll give you one chance and one chance only. Call off this attack and I'll turn you over to the Galaxy Alliance."

"Perhaps if you were Jason I might consider," Crysis replied while studying his prey, noting the mild surprise at his use of the Ranger's co-leaders name. "Or Ms. Kwan, perhaps. Mr. Park would arrest me as well. But you," his large hand rose, pointing a cobalt-black finger at Tommy. "You're a killer. It's in your blood and Zordon knew that from the start. It was why Rita coveted you and Lord Zedd feared your very existence."

"Your opinion of me doesn't matter."

"You know I won't stop. You know I won't ever give up!" Crysis swore powerfully. "And one day when I escape I would return to hunt you and everyone you loved down. And then I would kill them all." Pure white eyes gazed intently. "You don't doubt this." Recodnition lit Tommy's gaze. "See, we have that in common, Thomas. Justice is sometimes a weapon that must be enforced, not a principle to live by."

"You're delaying the inevitable with your mind games." The stone gate shut behind Tommy, locking him and Crysis together. Alone, one-on-one. "We will stop you!"

"Your other team has engaged my forces," Crysis motioned toward the gargantuan glass ceiling that suddenly morphed into a huge monitor of sorts, exposing the raging space battle on the other side of the moon. The Rangers Zords were horrifically outnumbered against Crysis star fleet. "Those loyal to me are relentless. They will murder the woman you love."

"Really?" Catching sight of the Crane Winged Prey Zord, Tommy's heart beat once again. "How's that working out for you?" he asked sarcastically as she tore through a squadron of fighters. "She's hard to kill."

"Good. I like a woman with spirit." Crysis dark skin and powerful frame appeared God-like surrounded by fire. "I admire difficult victories, Thomas, Rest assured she will die tonight. Before you so that I might enjoy your horror and agony."

Entering into a fighting position, Tommy snarled, "Enough talk! Let's get this over with!"

Crysis dismissed his aggression. "But aren't we supposed to verbally spar a bit more?" he questioned almost whimsically. "Shouldn't I reveal my background and then detail my entire plot before we battle? That's typically how the end of many of your more action-oriented Earth movies play out, right?"

Tommy's eyes narrowed hatefully. "How about I tear your heart out?"

Crysis favored his upcoming opponent with respect. Thomas most certainly did not fear death. "I am Zordon's son... his flesh and blood child... returned to butcher him for all time."

Tommy shook his head, certain this being was suffering from madness. "You're crazy."

"NO!" Crysis shouted angrily, his voice boomed over the room. "I am the pain and suffering he left behind. I am the hatred meant for him, but served upon me. I am his true legacy. Not this farce about the Great and Courageous Wizard of Eltar." Unimaginable rage grew in the very way he stood as he drew a fiery bone sword from his throne. "Zordon was once a monster as evil as any you faced under his command."

"And I'm supposed to believe you?"

"No Thomas," Crysis slowly shook his head. "You are supposed to bear witness... I am going to murder every man, woman, and child on Earth. I will destroy Zordon's legacy... and then end his miserable life." His sword rose high, flames licking at the sky. "But first I will have your precious Kimberly captured. I will let my soldiers rape her to death while you watch helplessly!"

Pure, venomous hate flowed through Tommy. "... you've dug your own grave, Crysis." Saba rose above his head as towering flames surrounded him. "Ready to die?"

"Since the day I was born!"

Crysis roared down the bone staircase as Tommy thundered up toward him... their swords clashed so powerfully the glass-domed ceiling cracked as their war began!

**The End of Chapter 3**

**Chapter 4: The Rangers Darkest Night ends!**


	4. The Final Chapter

**Title: "The Darkest Night"**  
**Written by: Shawn Chapter 4/4**

**Summary: Casualties mount as the Rangers fight to the death to stop Crysis once and for all! Zordon's darkest secrets are revealed.**

**Category: Angst/Romance/Drama/Violence/Love Making/Death **

**Rating: MA or everything that falls under that category.**

**Time-line/Spoilers: AU from the moment Jason, Trini, and Zack go to the Peace Conference. In this story they don't leave the team, but Adan, Aisha, and Rocky join as Rangers. Jason and Tommy co-lead the team. This story picks up a year later during the time of Power Rangers Zeo, only Zeo never happened. The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers are Tommy, Kim, Jason, Trini, Zack, Billy, Aisha, Rocky, Tanya, Katherine, and Adam.**

**Disclaimer: Saban owns it all again. I own the right to make PR a bit more adult, a bit more serious, and a bit more dramatic.**

**Authors Notes 1: The mental image I want my readers to have of the Rangers outfits, Zords, and Angel Grove is in line with Mighty Morphing Power Rangers: The Movie. The outfits will be the body-armor type and the city is big, bright, and more what you would expect from a real city instead of what's portrayed on the TV show. Expect a more serious approach to protecting the Earth and how Zordon commands the team.**

**Authors Notes 2: All Rangers are 18 and the story is set near the end of their senior year of High School.**

**Authors Notes 3: This series is being extended a bit longer than the two chapters I originally planned.**

**Authors Notes 4: This story will feature/mention a slash relationship.**

**Dedicated to: SYuuri aka Liz the Great:)**

**"For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation."**

**Rainer Maria Rilke**

**"The Rune"**  
**Domminair-Class Warship **

**Just outside the throne room of Crysis **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997 **

**Far side of the moon**

Crysis viciously carved his Death-Rune blade across the White Ranger's belly, digging deeply into the nearly shattered armor. Grimacing in agony, Tommy somehow parried the fierce slash at the last possible second, narrowly avoiding death before delivering a crushing roundhouse kick to his enemy's face that sent Crysis crashing through a stone Pyre pit, his entire body lit with flames and burning embers. "This is how the world ends!"

Rising to his feet, determined as ever, Tommy defiantly declared, "Not on my watch!"

"Human," Crysis spat venomously from his mouth. "The brave are always the first to die!"

With rage they leapt into the air, swords in hand, the entire fate of Earth on the line!

Their blades clashed relentlessly, sparks erupting with every deadly strike as they battled furiously with no retreat and no surrender! Blustering flames and thick clouds of smoke fumed from the various stone Pyre pits that surrounded the sprawling throne room as they dueled.

The white-dead eyes of Crysis glared angrily at Tommy as they battled near the clear glass wall overlooking the moon's crater where Zords warred with his massive star-ships. "My forces have already murdered some of your own, and the rest will die before sunrise," he swore as his blade sliced a bloody gash across Tommy's forearm.

The White Ranger forward-flipped over Crysis head, landing with a devastating strike down the living-smoke cape covering his back. The ever-shifting cursed cape absorbed the blow entirely as Tommy backed off, gasping for breath. "Rest assured, you'll die first!" he shouted as he struck back with wild aggression, his blazing attacks throwing his much taller opponent off balance, forcing Crysis so close to one of the massive Stone Pyre pits the intense heat seared them both. "I WILL STOP YOU!"

"YOU WILL DIE!"

"THEN I'LL TAKE YOU WITH ME!" Tommy ducked a deadly head slice, then fought off five consecutive sword slashes before landing a crushing backhand to Crysis face, separating part of his cybernetic jaw from the aged skin it was attached too. Dark blood ran river red down Crysis face as he extended his open palm at Tommy, some sort of invisible force blast launched him nearly thirty feet into the air. The White Ranger slammed into the glass wall, cracking it in warped splinters as he crumbled to the ground below. "I am the Lord and Master of Tech-Sorcery! My powers are limitless!"

Staggering to his feet, the hard battles to reach Crysis throne room had already taken so much out of the White Ranger. And what was left... Tommy held his side while searching for Crysis through the smoke and darkness. "You're just another loud-mouth killer who I'm going to put down for good."

"But I am innocent, Thomas."

That ominous tone of voice echoed from everywhere at once as Tommy raised Saba high, preparing for the fight of his life. He was injured and bleeding ... weary, with Crysis now toying with him in the shadows. "Show yourself! Face me!"

"Did you know that Zordon once butchered an entire city of innocent people on a world called Kelos?" Crysis began his tale. "When they defied the Order he attempted to bring to them, he killed twenty-one thousand in less than a day."

"Zordon and his Rangers protect and aid, never murder. He would never be a part of something like that! You're a liar."

"And you're a naive child to the truth, Thomas. The very power that courses through your veins was once used to butcher and slay anyone who opposed the Grand Wizard of Eltar. He'd found the means to immortality and intended to rule the universe some five hundred years ago. The history you know is a falsehood, as is his true origin. You're nothing but a pawn."

Back to the throne room's bone-staircase, Tommy rounded it swiftly, his senses on high alert. Villains like Crysis loved to hear themselves talk, and the longer he did so the sooner he'd make a mistake. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because before you die I want you to know the truth," Crysis explained from his hidden location. "Zordon was as evil as Rita Repulsa or Lord Zedd or anyone else you have faced. He and his Rangers pillaged and plundered anything they wanted from any world until they reached the cold, dark world of Dezoris. It was there that the ancient Sorcerers of Pilar defeated his evil Rangers and psionically separated him from his flesh and blood form. His stasis tube was meant to be his tomb-prison for all-time, but somehow he escaped."

The bitter taste of copper in his mouth wasn't a good sign, but Tommy had to ignore it for now. "You're insane and this fairy tale is a joke."

"If only it was... as one of the many women Zordon raped was with child. His child. And since Zordon himself was unable to face the tribal law sentence it fell to her to be imprisoned for the rest of her life. That woman died giving birth... to me."

Tommy knew without a doubt Crysis was beyond insane. But he sounded as if he believed every single word he said. And if he was caught up in it, then it was personal. The White Ranger knew he could use that to his advantage. "So you want me to believe you are Zordon's bastard son?"

Rage fed Crysis voice as he roared, "I was born into a nightmarish captivity to serve a life sentence for crimes I never committed. I was experimented on and used and treated like a lab rat for two hundred and seventy years in a attempt to learn Zordon's immortal secret. I outlived most of my captors as they sought the science of my extraordinarily long life. And even when Zordon re-emerged a new man with this fake quest for peace, still I was imprisoned in the worse hell you could possibly imagine! I was to die there, in the darkness, having never known even a fleeting moment of freedom. I was doomed from my first breath!"

"Poor Crysis... unwanted and unloved," Tommy noted sarcastically, baiting Crysis. "How touching. You're the kid no one wanted to hug, and now you destroy planets all because you have daddy-issues. No wonder Zordon never wanted you. You're weak!"

"DIE RANGER!" Crysis deftly emerged like a phantom from thin air, raging down at the White Ranger. Grunting, Tommy knocked his attack aside, and then had his own countered as Crysis grabbed him by the neck, lifted him clear off his feet, and then slammed him wickedly to the ground. His back spasmed in agonizing pain as Saba slipped from his grasp, spiraling across the floor. Instinctively his hands lifted quickly, capturing the razor sharp Death Rune blade as Crysis shoved it down, attempting to pierce his throat.

Crysis pushed harder, shoving the tip of his blade ever closer to the White Ranger's neck. "Give in, Thomas. Embrace the darkness!"

"Let there be light!" Tommy shouted as incredibly blinding pure white light burst from the White Ranger emblem on his chest-plate, causing Crysis to howl painfully as he stumbled backward. Rising to his feet once more, Tommy screamed when Crysis cursed smoke-cape enveloped him fully, crushing with unholy power!

Crysis shook off the blindness as his cursed cape tightened around the White Ranger's body. "You have battled bravely, but your allegiance to Zordon is as foolish as your belief that you can defeat me."

"And you're a fool if you think we'll ever let you win," Tommy fired back as blood dripped from his mouth. "Saba!"

The mighty Saba Sword launched like a rocket from the floor, piercing into Crysis stomach! The huge gaping wound bled profusely, while his cybernetics snapped and crackled, causing him to lose his cape's hold on the White Ranger.

With his enemy staggered, and his own health failing fast, Tommy's intense fury launched at Crysis!

But this time was different... doomed before it even began.

"Now you die White Ranger!" Crysis proclaimed as he evaded each and every one of Tommy's frantically violent attacks. The Saba sword embedded in his belly suddenly withered... fading into a dull gray color before becoming rusty... brittle, and then cracking fully until its pieces fell to the floor. What was worse, Crysis wound seemed to be healing from the inside out.

So with all that he had left to give, and Kimberly in his thoughts that he could never fail her, Tommy fought for his life. His punches and kicks lacked their typical impactful force as he missed time after time. And even when they landed, Crysis shrugged off his blows while delivering his own that cracked ribs and closed his right eye shut.

They battled for everything, but the war was fading fast. Tommy crumbled to one knee, rolled away from a vicious kick before rising to deliver a hard right to what was left Crysis gruesome face. But with every new attack, his strength fled his body. His speed and agility were gone, his legs wobbling, his power lost to the many battles he'd already fought tonight... and to this one being he simply could not defeat!

Finally, at long last Crysis held the bleeding, exhausted White Ranger by his throat off the ground. "Zordon's champion... oh how I have dreamed of this very moment. How I have waited so very long to kill his legacy starting with the Chosen One deemed to protect it!"

Tommy spat blood in his face, defiant to the last. "The legacy of the Rangers will never die!"

"But Kimberly will," Crysis noted with a sneer. "I know of the one you love." He paused, as if listening for something. "Can you hear her breathing fade into twilight? Does it hurt that you cannot save her or your world or even yourself?" The White Ranger struggled, but there was no hope at all. "Dear Thomas... no one lives forever... not even..."

Shocked and awed, Crysis did not finish what he was going to say as the long, deadly blade Trini pierced his chest with burst through his back. The air fled his digitized lungs as his eyes widened. The deadly attack came out of nowhere, from the very shadows themselves. He had no time to react at all.

"You broke my heart!" Trini shouted with venom as she stared into Crysis eyes, "So I'm taking yours!" Wrenching the blade from Crysis disgusting body, the dark, half-cybernetic organ emerged on the end of it... beating a few times before stopping as it slid off the end, falling to the floor.

"I... I'm... innocent." Rivers of dark crimson poured from his mouth as Crysis slowly crumbled to his knees, and then the cold floor face first. Small sparks and electrical snaps crackled all over his towering frame until it caught fire. The erupting flames devoured the Dark Lord... at long last he was dead.

"Tommy!" Trini shouted as she pulled his broken body into her arms, checking his pulse and his wounds. He was in worse shape than she'd ever seen him before. "We have to get out of here now!"

"It... it can't be true... it can't..."

Ignoring whatever that was about and her own heartache, Trini felt him pass out and knew he needed medical aid now. Hoisting him over her shoulders, she ran for the exit, and hopefully salvation. "Zack... Adam... anybody, we need emergency evac now!"

**Above the Moon dig site**

** Far side of the Moon, the lunar hemisphere that is permanently turned away from the Earth **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997**

Two Winged Prey Zords relentlessly tore through a squadron of enemy fighters as laser bolts wildly ricocheted off the curved walls around them. Having blasted their way into the one of the warships underbelly cargo hold, the Pink and Silver Rangers attacked from within. The warship's tri-legged interior attack droids launched barrages of blaster beams at Kim and Aisha as they twisted their Zords around the fiery debris, winding corners and through narrow openings at heart-stopping speeds!

"This wasn't...ahh... one of your better ideas," Aisha grunted through her comm-link as she aggressively maneuvered the Silver Eagle Zord through the claustrophobic interior of one of the massive battleships. With the Pink Crane Zord on her right, they roared at break-neck speeds through tight corridors as red Zebra-class star-fighters gave chase, zipping in and around them while firing at will! "We got no room in here and our Zords wing-span isn't helping."

"Its the only way we can get interior scans of these vessels," Kim noted while banking the Pink Crane Zord hard right, and then left around gigantic glowing green pillars. Laser-fire rattled off her weakening rear deflector shields as she struggled to hold her Zord steady. The witty banter of earlier was lost as their desperate fight to survive was all that mattered. "We're barely denting them from the outside and we can't afford to ram any more Zords into them. We gotta get some intell and this was the only way to do it."

With Rocky's death clawing at her heart, Aisha swore while firing vengefully, "I just want to kill them all!"

"Go for it!"

The Zords barreled into a section of the ship with towering glass-poles burning with red energy pulses that lit the raised ceilings of the tunnel they whizzed through. Dodging frenetic laser-fire while navigating towards the rear of the ship, the Rangers locked on to the strongest power source, heading straight for it. Apparently Crysis huge warships were mostly troop carriers as there were wide open space filled with ground vehicles that quickly turned into deadly tight corridors as the Zords fought their way through with deadly intent.

The Blue Ranger, with the White Falcon and Black Nightingale Zords on his wings glided briskly over the red surface of one of the remaining battleships. "Kim, this is Billy. I'm picking up wild energy fluctuations coming off Crysis main warship."

Kim scowled as she banked hard out the way of a trio of gigantic metal girders, her face wincing as the space to maneuver became ever tighter. "Do you think the E.M.P bomb worked?"

"Affirmative. These are emergency back-up systems that seem to be erratically losing power in some sections of the ship. There's still no word from Tommy's team, but something is going on over there."

"Keep'em busy, Billy. And keep trying to hack their communications," Kim ordered. "Sha, you see it?"

"Yep. My readings say they're the engine fuel cells. Ninety meters left of those gold and red bars on the outside. Now we know where to hit'em!" Aisha noted of the twin pulsating balls of blinding light humming with the rear section of the battleship. "I'll take the north tower."

"I'll hit'em low and then lets blaze."

The Silver and Pink Winged Prey Zords launched volleys of laser-fire at their targets, causing a concussion of detonations as the entire area around them filled with blustering fire. The two Zords concentrated their canons on a already damaged section of the battleship until the wall buckled outward and ripped apart.

They burst through the opening as the battleship erupted in one humongous explosion of fire that tore it in half, with massive chunks of its wreckage splintering in all directions!

Quickly, Kim and Aisha formed up behind Billy's Zord and the remaining A.U. controlled Black Nightingale and White Falcon Zords. Laserfire skittered around them as enemy fighters swarmed in.

Billy quickly checked his systems array. "Kim, the remaining battleships are hovering without any discernible attack pattern. In addition, Crysis main warship hasn't advanced from its current position at all despite our success thus far against his superior numbers," the blue Ranger informed her. "My long-distance radar isn't picking up any hyper-drive signatures. There appears to be no reinforcements coming for his attack force. And the remaining forces appear disoriented."

"I think our Rangers over there got the job done," Kim smiled briefly. "But are the crater gravitational array towers still powering up?"

"Yes," Billy hated to report. "We have minutes left. Its now or never."

Aisha, while barely holding back tears as she fired at the remaining fighters, tried to keep her head wrapped around the big picture. Even as her heart was broken over Rocky's death. "Kim, I'll follow you into hell and back, so this is your call."

Knowing that she was out of options, Kim was unable to come up with any alternative plans. Her hands shook on her Zord's control shaft as she flew. "Billy, is the new encrypted communication signal ready?"

"Affirmative. I found a way to bypass Crysis signal scrambler. I can patch you into Zordon now."

Zordon's voice came through all the the Zord's com-links. "RANGERS, JASON IS ALIVE, BUT IN GRAVE CONDITION. TANYA IS WITH HIM. IF ANYTHING CHANGES I WILL UPDATE YOU," Zordon began. "AS FOR OUR CURRENT PREDICAMENT. KIMBERLY, I HAVE BEEN CONFERRING WITH THE U.N SECRUITY COUNCIL VIA EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS, AS WELL AS THE PENTAGON, KREMLIN, AND VARIOUS OTHER INTERNATIONAL GOVERNMENTS. NONE OF THEM WANT US TO PROCEED WITH OUR CURRENT PLAN."

"Please give me another option, Zordon," Kim pleaded with her leader. "I don't want to be the girl responsible for destroying the world if this doesn t work."

"ALPHA AND BILLY HAVE THROUGHLY SCANNED THE TOWERS. WE CANNONT TELEPORT THEM OFF THE MOON AS CRYSIS HAS ERECTED A NEGATIVE SIGNAL FIELD AROUND THEM THAT WE CANNOT PENETRATE. THUS FAR WE HAVEN'T DISCOVERED A WAY TO HACK INTO THEIR COMPUTER SYSTEMS. THEY ARE STRUCTUALLY SOUND TO A DEGREE OF ENGINEERING I HAVE NEVER ENCOUNTERED BEFORE. I FEAR OUR ONLY COURSE OF ACTION IS YOUR PLAN, KIMBERLY. TO DESTROY THE MOON AND RECREATE ITS SYNCHRONOUS ROTATION WITH OUR INTERGALACTIC SATELITE BEFORE THE TOWERS BEGIN MOVING THE MOON AND GLOBAL NATURAL DISASTERS SWEEP OVER THE ENTIRE PLANET."

Kimberly knew the fate of the world was in her hands. The beautiful specter of Earth and everyone she loved came into view just over the horizon. "Any word at all from Tommy's team?"

"NOTHING, I AM SORRY TO REPORT. BUT THE SHEER INACTIVITY OF CRYSIS MAIN WARSHIP AND THE ERRATIC POWER FLUCTUATIONS GIVE US HOPE THAT THE RANGERS HAVE ENGAGED OUR ENEMY. WE MUST TRUST IN THEM AS THEY TRUST IN US."

"Kim, I love you till the end," Aisha promised. "Let's do this!"

It was now or never as Kim whispered a silent prayer for Tommy and all her friends. But the emotional aspect of this needed to be set aside as she had a job to do. "Zordon, do you want me to make the final decision?"

"I FEEL ONLY A NATIVE OF YOUR WORLD SHOULD. I TRUST YOU."

Gritting her teeth, summoning all her courage and determination, Kim kicked the engines into high gear, veering away from the massive dig site. "Aisha, scan for the deepest natural crater on the moons surface. Plot us the fastest course there."

"I'm on it!"

"Billy, Sha, have all Zords form up behind me. Arm your Viper missiles at full charge," Kimberly ordered while kicking in the Pink Crane Zord's afterburners. "Billy, the calculations necessary to pull this off, I can't imagine how you're going to do it."

"I'm half done already," the Ranger's resident genius noted as he flew on Kim's left side. "Considering that I have no time to run any simulations on virtual machines, nor accurately predict all the variables after proper research, the best I can do is this. Our cloaked early warning satellite will broadcast a full gravitational clone of the moon's constant movement around the Earth. I have calibrated our teleportation sequences to begin teleporting the more massive fragments of the moon as it breaks apart. If we had more time we would probably attempt to teleport it all, but the theoretical notion behind it would require endless research and..."

"Billy, please," Kim halted his long-windedness. "What could go wrong?"

"... everything," he sighed. "I'm just not sure this will work, but I can see no other option. I'm doing my very best."

Kim nodded. "Probability for success?"

"Sixty-five percent if we're lucky, and that's rounded up," Billy honestly admitted. "We just don't have time to properly gather data, prepare, and test this. I will be making decisions on the fly even if we can destroy the moon, remove its debris, both shield and mimic its gravitational pull around the Earth, and hope that the natural disasters we do create are kept to a minimal."

Aisha asked, "And what about the moon being... you know, gone? Are we telling the world the truth or covering it up?"

"AISHA, IT APPEARS FOR NOW THE U.N WISHES US TO KEEP WHAT IS TRANSPIRING A SECRET TO PREVNT A WORLD-WIDE PANIC. WE WILL BE BROADCASTING A FALSE HOLOGRAPHIC IMAGE OF THE MOON TO REPLACE THE ACTUAL ONE FOR THE TIME BEING."

"Alpha has prepared the image," Billy explained. "Again, we are in uncharted territory here."

Aisha's systems array sounded wildly as she found what she was looking for. "Got it, Kim. There's a massive crevice two hundreds miles east of here, and about four hundred and eighty-seven miles deep. Coordinates sent now!"

"Charge your missiles to full nuclear capability. All Zords, maximum speed. Gun it and pray!" Kim ordered as all Zords afterburner trails lit white-hot as they roared towards Earths destiny!

**"The Rune"**  
**Domminair-Class Warship **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997 **

**Far side of the moon**

With blustering fires roaring around him, Adam's laser sword deflected several curved razor-sharp blades thrown with amazing accuracy by his wall-crawling opponent, knocking them sideways as he back-peddled down the wide corridor filled with dead alien bodies. The atrocious scent of death surrounded him as his heart beat a mile a minute, his senses on high alert. Ruckus, one of Crysis Elite Guards wildly cart-wheeled across the ceiling while constantly tossing his poison-soaked blades at the Green Ranger.

"Ranger," the evil one growled ominously, his withering, old visage a falsehood as he possessed uncanny agility and the ability to seemingly defy gravity itself. His gray, wrinkly skin was that of a elderly man, with stringy long black hair and dark rags for clothing. A large pouch was attached to his back, filled with his trademark poisoned blades. His maniacal stare was vacant, as if his black eyes held no soul at all, and had never conceived of emotion. His grotesque rotten teeth bared as he pointed a gnarled finger at his foe. "I will eat you slowly."

"I don't have time for this." Adam's trigger finger ignited a relentless wave of green laser fire that ricocheted off the walls as Ruckus twisted and twirled through the air, running on the ceiling one moment, and then hurtling down the walls the next as the Green Ranger gave chase.

The intense heat of the Green Ranger's laser sword nearly singed his face before Adam parried a deadly slash as Ruckus brandished a blade in each hand and somehow balanced one on each foot. The Elite Guard's fighting style was abnormally unpredictable, cutting and slicing at awkward angles, digging deep into his opponent's green armor as they battled each over around scores of dead alien soldiers. Their relentless clash of weapons sparked a furious exchange of attacks, both relentless and unmoving!

"You aren't as crazy as I am," Ruckus howled as he leapt at Adam, blades aiming for the Green Ranger's throat. "You reek of sanity, human!"

"Shut up!" Adam swiped Ruckus's right arm, severing three fingers and one blade from his now mangled hand. With his enemy screaming in pain, the Green Ranger smashed his gloved fist into Ruckus's face, bloodying his aged features. "Stand down," he ordered. "I don't want to kill you."

Ruckus slowly ambled sideways, holding his side, moving backward while counting, "One...two... three..." as his severed fingers somehow regenerated. "Crysis is going to destroy all the little voices down there," he pointed out a massive port window towards the Earth. "And then their singing will be no more."

Having fought his way here through dozens of Crysis soldiers, Adam didn't have a clue where any of his teammates were, if they were still alive, or how they were even going to get out of here. All he knew was that he couldn t give up no matter how hopeless things seemed. "Does this ship have escape pods or anything like that? Talk and I'll spare your life."

Ruckus limped toward Adam, bleeding from his mouth and temple, and despite the green laser sword aimed at his chest he didn't stop advancing. His voice slowly slithered in the dark. "Death is the sweet silence, Ranger. I embrace it. See, for my kind, we are cursed to almost never die. And I have outlived all that came before me. So to you," he pointed a finger into the tip of the laser sword, defying the intense pain as the skin warped and burned. "I ask for the gift of death. My Lord Crysis is no more," he sadly shook his head, a glimmer of madness dancing within his eyes. "I cannot feel his soul calling out to me. So I wish to join him in whatever lies after this life." He added darkly, "And if you do not kill me I will rain an unholy hell down upon you, and for all your days you will regret it."

"I want to find my friends and get off this damn ship!" Adam loudly swore. "So help me or run!"

Tilting his head sideways, Ruckus sighed. "I sense fear in you, boy. But as the Earthlings say, if you can't stand the heat," he opened a small vial from his bag and poured a blue liquid over his head, face, neck, and chest. "Then get out of the kitchen."

Adam launched himself backward, flipping out of the way when Ruckus swiped his arm near a pile of burning corpses as he erupted in flames! Raising blades high over his head, the Elite Guard howled insanely. "You're mad!"

"Pretty much!" Ruckus raced at Adam while flames engulfed him, swinging and punching wildly. Adam dodged and ducked, launching a fierce roundhouse kick that flung Ruckus near a gigantic elevator. The alien staggered to his feet, spitting out teeth as his skin burned. "LETS DIE TOGETHER! YOU'LL HAVE FRIENDS THERE, I PROMISE!"

Uncorking the top of a slender silver tube from a hip holster. Adam tossed it at Ruckus's feet. "Do us both a favor. Go away."

The deafening explosion shot Ruckus off his feet, blowing him backwards as bones shattered throughout his frail body. The powerful detonation ripped through the elevator shaft wall as his body whirled through and down the shaft, his arms and legs flailing as he screamed, "YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE LET ME LIIIIVVEEEEE!"

Adam didn't give Ruckus a second thought, triggering his wrist communicator immediately. "This is Adam, is anyone out there? Please respond!" Nothing... static... and then the most subtle beep, a small sign of hope, but far below him.

Sparring not a second, ever fearless, Adam launched himself toward the elevator shaft and then dove inside it, his body swiftly coursing through the dark tunnel as he descended like a rocket. He landed at the bottom, ready for a fight, but found no sign of Ruckus at all.

"Two beeps," Adam said to himself as his wrist communicator pointed him east, and so he ran. Around a corner two beeps turned into several rapidly as he caught sight of Trini half-carrying Tommy. "What happened to Tommy? And where's Katherine?"

Handing Tommy over to Adam as she was injured, Trini sadly shook her head. "Its a long story, but she's dead. So is Crysis."

Adam swallowed hard while bearing the White Ranger's weight in a fireman s carry. As much as he felt the need to grieve his friend's death, it wasn't now. "We need to find a way out of here. Any ideas?"

Trini found a single beep. "One hundred and fifty clicks east of here. Its either Zack or a trap."

"Its not like we have a choice," Adam replied. "Let's go."

**Above the Moon dig site**

** Far side of the Moon, the lunar hemisphere that is permanently turned away from the Earth **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997**

The Silver Eagle Zord rocked hard sideways from the laser-blasts that rattled its left wing, splintering armor plating off its sides. While working hard to stabilize the Zord, Aisha caught sight of the Blue Ranger in dire trouble. "Billy, watch out!"

Billy whirled his Blue Vulture Zord away a trio of rockets launched by the enemy star-fighters closing in on his position. Soon they splintered into fiery debris as Aisha blasted through them, giving the Blue Ranger reason to breath a sigh of relief. "Many thanks for the assist, Ms. Campbell."

"Think nothing of it, just keep doing your calculations to save the world," Aisha said. "Kim, what do you need me to do?"

"Program the White Falcon and Black Nightingale Zords to split off to the far north side of the moon. Hopefully they'll take as many of our pursuers as they can."

"They aren't gonna make it back, Pink."

"Can't be avoided."

"Noted and programmed," Aisha replied as the unmanned Zords quickly veered away, taking dozens of fighters with them.

"Charge your Nova missiles to their maximum nuclear levels," Kimberly commanded her wing-mates while navigating the Pink Crane Zord through a perilous valley as squadrons of Red Zebra-class star-fighters gave chase, firing wildly at them. "Transfer all remaining power to your thrusters and forward lights. Save enough juice to get clear of the moon when she goes boom!"

"Copy Pink leader." Aisha flew with a heavy heart, her mind focusing on the task at hand while her thoughts were with Rocky. The loss of him felt catastrophic, and she hadn't even had time to fully process it yet. "We're only ten miles out. What's the plan?"

Trying for the ninth time in the last ten minutes to contact Tommy's team, Kim had to shove her dread aside. "The South Pole Aitken's interior crater in so jagged if we drop our Nova missiles we risk them detonating long before they each the maximum depth we need. So we're going to fly inside ourselves about 700 miles down, deliver the warheads at point blank range, and then get the hell out of there."

"That's some crazy suicidal shit, sis," Aisha half-laughed. "See'ya on the other side."

"Sorry, its all I got." And then Kimberly asked, "Zordon, have the world leaders been notified?"

"YES. AND TO SAY THEY ARE NOT PLEASED WOULD BE A GRAND UNDERSTATEMENT. THEY ARE QUIETLY MOBILIZING RESCUE FORCES AND HOSPITAL RESPONSE PROTOCALS FOR THE ISSUES RESULTING FROM WHAT WE ARE ABOUT TO DO. FALSE NEWS REPORTS ARE BEING CRAFTED AS WE SPEAK TO EXPLAIN WHATEVER HAPPENS. WE ARE AS PREPARED FOR THE UNKNOWN AS WE CAN BE. THE SEVERE WEATHER FLUCUATIONS THE EARTH WILL FACE OVER THE NEXT TWENTY-FOUR HOURS WILL BE UNPRECEDENTED."

Suddenly, Billy's systems array went haywire. "Kim, the gravitational towers Crysis erected are fully powered and online. We are out of time!"

Kim swiftly engaged the Pink Crane Zord's afterburners. "Everybody gun it! Zordon, stand by!"

Swarms of deadly laser fire rained after the Pink Crane, Silver Eagle, and Blue Vulture Zords as they quickly ascended over a sprawling range of rocky mountainous terrain, hurtling at break-neck speeds as their goal was finally visible upon clearing a treacherous stretch.

"There! We're going in hot. Keep your front-lights on high because we can run out of space real fast," Kimberly declared as she flew the Pink Ranger Zord hard and fast at a rising trajectory, and then dive-bombed inside the massive dark crater with the Silver Eagle and Blue Vulture Zords hot on her tail. "No matter what, do not stop! Deliver your warheads and get the hell out of here. Every man, woman and child on Earth is depending on us. Shut everything else out!"

"Affirmative," Billy said, his mind blazing fast as his Zord as the moon s dangerous interior began narrowing faster than expected. Sheer darkness save for their front lights and personal reflexes kept them alive. "Our cloaked satellite is programmed, Kim. We are as ready as we can be given the time I ve had to prepare. I've done my best."

After whispering a silent prayer her grandmother taught her, Aisha offered, "We know you did, Billy."

Her Zord darting from left to right around jagged banks of rocks, Kimberly's radar counter showed the depth of where they needed to go and how far they'd gone already. "Two hundred more miles and then we drop and run. Set your warheads at two-minute detonation timers and then whatever you do, don't look back!"

Gunning their afterburners to their limits, the Zords weaved in and around the claustrophobic interior of the moon, dodging and twisting around the pitch-black cavern as they raced toward destiny. The star fighters that followed them tried to keep up, but some crashed into each other while maneuvering, others exploded after colliding into walls of solid rock.

Holding steady, Kim read the glowing meter on her dashboard crawling toward maximum depth until finally it beeped blood-red. "This is the last hand we're playing at the Poker table, so let's make it count. Drop'em and fly!"

"Affirmative!"

"Got it!"

Six white-blue streaks of hopes jettisoned from the Zords wing-tips, streaking towards the moon's dark center as the Rangers u-turned back up towards the surface as fast as their after-burners could take them. Soaring harder than their Zords were designed to be pushed, fighting for their very lives.

Her heart racing inside her chest, Kimberly's hands shook as she twisted around the falling debris of star fighters that came in after them and the sharp rocks and boulders they rammed into. Her Zord was nearly out of fuel and power as every precious second needed to count. Rock formations the size of buildings shot past them as the Rangers deftly maneuvered out of their path.

The salvation of outer space was above them as the Zords raged towards the end of their darkest night.

Suddenly, a gigantic hum vibrated from the center of the moon as the Zord's shook violently. A series of shattering shock waves rumbled as the Nova missiles detonated. And for the rest of their lives the Rangers present would remember the deafening blast that signaled the moon was being destroyed.

"Jesus!" Kimberly swore as she roared out of the moon's crater, her eyes frantically searching for Aisha and Billy's Zord's. They quickly joined her wings, both their Zord's shredded with damage, but operable as they sought as much distance as they could get away from the moon.

"Good God, will you look at that," Aisha whispered as a sheer cataclysm of fractures erupted all over the moon's surface. Deep fissures cracked for miles and miles, and then humongous chunks began bursting from every conceivable direction as the majestic moon broke apart.

"Come on, come on!" Billy worried impatiently until the first gigantic crater disappeared in a blue burst. He exhaled deeply, shutting his eyes for a moment. "Kim, the teleportation sequences are getting through."

The Crane Zord circled what was left of moon as it began breaking off into massive fragments. She simply couldn't believe what she was seeing even as it was happening before her very eyes. "I can't... I can't believe this."

As warm tears fell down her face, Aisha shook her head as she reached a safe distance alongside her teammates. "I hope the others make sure Crysis burns in hell for what he did!"

Ever the Earth's companion no matter if one believed in evolution or creation, the moon finally fractured in a blinding explosion that signaled its total destruction as gargantuan chunks of rock were teleported away until at last there was nothing left save dust clouds and a small amount of asteroids.

The Rangers watched history unfold before their very eyes as ten seconds later the moon returned in all its glory, a awe-inspiring holographic image so life-like if they didn't know the truth they would never have known it wasn't the real thing.

"Guys, our cloaked satellite is fully operational and accurately mimicking the moon's natural rotation around the earth," Billy explained. "We are broadcasting the signal at two thousand, two hundred and eighty-eight miles per hour, just as fast as the moon circled the Earth."

Kim asked, "Zordon, what are you seeing on Earth?"

"WE HAVE REPORTS OF EARTHQUAKES IN INDIA, CANADA, AND CHINA. A TSUNAMI IS ASSUALTING NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA. TORNADOS ARE BATTERING THE WEST COAST AND MEXICO. A BLIZZARD IS BEING REPORTED IN SOUTH AMERICA. CURRENTLY WE ARE TRACKING NUMEROUS DISASTERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD, BUT WE CAN CONFIRM THE MOON'S NATURAL ORBIT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED. THE PLAN WORKED PERFECTLY. NOW WE MUST ASSIST THE WORLD IN RECOVERING."

"Any more word on Jason's condition or Tanya?" Aisha asked.

"JASON IS IN SURGERY AS WE SPEAK TO REPAIR HIS SPINAL COLUMN. HIS RED RANGER POWERS WILL HEAL HIM FULLY WITHIN THE NEXT SIX WEEKS, BUT WE WILL NEED TO DEAL WITH HIS DOCTORS. THAT IS A ISSUE FOR A LATER DATE. ALSO, TANYA IS BACK AT THE COMMAND CENTER ASSISTING ALPHA AND I WITH OUR GLOBAL COMMUNICATIONS. SHE IS FINE."

"Any word from Tommy's team?" Kimberly inquired with a small shred of hope.

"NOTHING SO FAR, AND JUDGING BY YOUR ZORD'S CONDITION I DON'T WANT YOU GOING AFTER THEM. TRUST IN THEIR ABILITIES. FOR NOW, RETURN TO THE COMMAND CENTER SO THAT WE CAN ASSESS OUR NEXT MOVE."

"But..."

"I AM READING POWER FLUCUATIONS AND A SEVERE LACK OF FUEL, COUPLED WITH NUMERIOUS REPAIR ISSUES COMING FROM ALL THREE OF YOUR ZORD'S. YOU CANNOT HELP THEM. TRUST ME THAT I WILL ASSIST THEM IN ANY WAY THAT I CAN. FOR NOW RETURN TO EARTH. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED."

Gritting her teeth, Kim turned her Zord away from the Earth. "With all due respect, Zordon. I cant abide by that request."

"IT WASN'T A REQUEST."

The Pink Crane, Silver Eagle, and Blue Vulture Zords were teleported away in a burst of light.

**"The Rune"**  
**Domminair-Class Warship **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997 **

**Far side of the moon**

Chaos erupted in the massive hanger bay of the gigantic warship as Crysis soldiers now warred amongst themselves for any vehicle capable of flight as a series of deafening explosions roared through entire vessel. Wildly blaring alarms, destabilizing gravity, and failing life support systems were evidence enough that the day was lost and it was every alien for himself.

"Two down, two hundred to go," Zack joked to himself, wildly firing his twin ion-blasters from behind Breaker-1, the Rangers scout shuttle that they used to sneak aboard the Ruin. An all-out fire fight raged around him as he ducked and dodged errant blasts while trading fire with anyone coming near the Ranger's ship. Crysis soldiers were desperate and crazed, turning on each other in a carnage of violence to escape certain doom.

With no communications whatsoever from any member of his team, Zack knew Ranger mission protocol called for him to evacuate and save himself. No way was that happening! He believed in his teammates and he knew they were counting on him to get them home, so he intended to defend this ship with his dying breath. He just had to hold out somehow.

Red and blue blaster fire rattled overhead as Zack ducked behind the starship, and then returned fire when two hulking aliens tried to advance. He dropped them both with chest shots, but saw far more battling their way around the hanger after any ship that looked remotely operable. Errant laser blasts ricocheted off of nearly every surface as Zebra-class fighters tried taking off with soldiers dangling from the wings. Overcrowded vessels took off while already on fire, seeking salvation off the Ruin.

The Black Ranger's ion-blasters were down to 18% energy, and the floor beneath his feet was beginning to buckle from the detonations going off all over the ship. Desperate for any word, Zack tried his communicator again. "Guys, we gotta get out here. Can anyone hear me? Is anyone injured and unable to make it to the hanger bay? Set off a beacon and I'll come get you. Anyone, please respond!"

Finally something came through. Broken and garbled, he heard what he thought was a woman's voice. Zack's eyes widened when he caught sight of Trini cutting down anything in her path through the thick smoke and blustering flames, while Adam carried the White Ranger on his back.

Rushing over, Zack took Tommy's other shoulder, taking half the weight as they moved toward Breaker-1 "You guys are a sight for sore eyes," he exhaled deeply, and then looked around. Something was wrong. "Where's Kat?"

Sadly, Adam shook his head, "We gotta go, bro. Answers are for another time."

"Lets go!" Swallowing hard, Zack nodded while firing a blaster with his free hand. "Everybody on-board now!" He watched Trini absolutely butchering Crysis last remaining soldier's in a way he'd never seen her fight before. She was possessed, and so very angry. "YELLOW, WE GOTTA GO! COME ON!"

Trini drove her laser sword through the neck of a four-armed abomination, killing it instantly. The familiar voice of one of her oldest friend's somehow broke through her blood lust as she regained her senses. "I'm on my way!" She quickly spun around, racing toward the small ramp inside Breaker-1.

After helping Adam get Tommy down on the floor in the back, Zack shot through the ship toward to the cockpit, frantically powering up the engines and forward shields. He strapped himself in the pilots chair, his heart racing. The onboard systems console came to life with a hum. "She's taken a beaten this last hour. Lets pray she has enough left in her to get us home."

Engines roaring to life, Breaker-1 lifted off the hanger floor. Its white-blue afterburners ignited to a full burn as the starship swiveled around toward the Ruin's wide-open docking bay door. Escape pods, fighters, and other starships blazed toward it as the hanger filled with a gusting wall of pure fire. As a number of ships broke free of Crysis doomed warship as it began breaking apart from the inside out.

"Everybody hang on!" Zack punched the engines hard, piloting the starship forward out of the Ruin at long last. Hands tightly gripping the controls, he dodged around the numerous other vessels, watching some speed off into hyperspace, while others swerved around the gigantic wreckage of the Ruin toward Earth. And while that concerned him greatly, his priority was to get Tommy medical attention as soon as possible. He heard Trini working on him in the back, swearing and begging him to keep fighting. Zack hadn't ever seen the White Ranger in such bad shape before. His mind hadn't a moment to even consider that Katherine was dead as he had to get them back to Earth.

From the right of Breaker-1 two shuttles suddenly exploded in a wild burst of fiery debris, rattling the Ranger's ship as Zack struggled to keep them level. And then their ship was powerfully battered three times in quick succession.

"Zack, what was that?" Trini shouted.

"That wasn't a laser blast, something hit us!" Zack's gaze filled with horror! "Adam, take the top ion-cannons."

From the co-pilots chair, the Green Ranger's eyes widened as his stomach dropped. "You have got to be kidding me!"

Firing the forward cannons to tear through some of the blazing-fast chunks of rock, Zack shouted, "Trini, strap Tommy in any way that you can. We're about to fly into a asteroid field that shouldn t even be here and we don't have time to care where it came from. Go!"

"Shit!" Adam peered through the cockpit window in awe as bus-sized chunks of rocks whizzed past them at breakneck speeds and from all sides. "Keep us alive."

'I'm trying, bro."

Adam stumbled on the way to the ceiling mounted laser gun turret as Breaker-1 was rocked again by a asteroid. He quickly strapped himself in the swivel-chair, and then began relentlessly firing at asteroids, clearing their way as best he could.

Chanting a silent prayer in his head, Zack deftly navigated the wild asteroid field, banking hard around chunks of rocks the size of apartment buildings flying as fast as missiles. Having done his pre-mission prep work, he knew this shouldn't exist anywhere near the moon. Then again he just saw what looked like... did something fly out of the moon? Or threw it without bursting through the surface. "Bro, are you seeing on your radar what I'm seeing?"

"Yeah," Adam noted, a chill running up his spine. "The calibrations have got to be way off. This thing says..."

"The moon isn t there." Zack shook his head, almost feeling sorry for the other ships being battered and crushed by the asteroids. He stuck close to the bigger chunks, using them as cover for as long as he could before gunning it, weaving through hunks of dense rock, whirling around fractures of debris. "Trini, how's Tommy holding up?"

"Not good," she replied. "He needs a hospital A.S.A.P."

Eyes narrowed, Zack sighed when he saw their fuel reserves and the distance they had to go to reach Earth. "We're gonna need a miracle."

"Consider your miracle granted."

Zack stared at the comm-link. "Billy?"

Breaker-1 teleported out of the asteroid field in a burst of blue light.

**The Command Center Zord **

**Hanger Bay **

**Thursday, April 8, 1997 9:43 AM **

**The mountains of Angel Grove, California**

Clad in their post-mission jumpsuits, Kimberly, Tanya, Billy, Alpha-5, and Aisha stood solemnly as Breaker-1's boarding ramp descended to the ground. Haggard and exhausted, Zack and Adam quickly carried an unconscious Tommy off the ship, followed by a clearly trembling Trini. Theirs was a lost innocence this morning, all of them shattered both mentally and physically as they reunited.

"Tommy?" escaped Kimberly's parted lips softly before her feet took over, racing to the man she loved as her friends gently laid him down on the floor. "God..." Minus the helmet, his battered White Ranger armor revealed a mess of ugly bruises, deep lacerations, and smears of blood. She fell to her knees, cradling his head in her lap. "What happened?"

"He's been through hell and back, but he's alive. I did the best I could with what we had on the shuttle, but he needs emergency medical attention now," Trini offered as she bent down next to Kim. She wanted to offer comfort nearly as badly as she needed it for herself.

Bending to his ear, Kim whispered her love to Tommy, softly caressing his face. "Zordon!"

Zordon's voice suddenly boomed from their communicators. "KIMBERLY, I HAVE ARRANGED FOR PHYSCIANS AND A EMERGENCY ROOM TO BE PREPPED FOR TOMMY AT ONCE. DO YOU WISH TO ACCOMPANY HIM?"

Assessing Tommy's many injuries, she could only nod as tears wet her eyes. "Take us now." She laid her hand upon his chest, over his heart as they teleported away in a burst of white and pink color.

As for the rest of the team, time stood still. There was so much to reveal and detail, and yet so much was conveyed without even a word spoken.

Tanya waited and waited for her best friend to walk down the ramp and greet her with that amazing smile of hers. But when she saw Zack's gaze falter, and then Trini turned away, appearing devastated... the Gold Ranger swallowed hard, wincing, her hand covering her mouth as she felt such grief sweep over her.

Adam searched around for Rocky, who he expected to greet the team with a witty line or a raunchy joke just to break the mood, but found only Aisha's crushed expression. "No," the Green Ranger refused to accept this... whatever this was... no! The Silver Ranger shook her head in quiet acknowledgment of the unthinkable. They were a trio growing up, inseparable. And now there were two. And the world was a much colder place.

Zack stepped forward. "Where is Jason?" he asked with such raw conviction, his heart raging against the fear now threatening to overtake him.

It was Alpha-5's voice that broke the withering silence. "Ranger's, we have suffered a great many losses in the battle against Crysis. I am sad to report that both Rocky and Katherine were killed during the mission. In addition, Jason suffered a severe spinal column injury, although he will make a full recovery do to the Great Power. And as soon as we know anything more about Tommy's condition we will update you all."

As much as the Rangers wanted to know, part of them didn't want to know anything more. They all peered about the gigantic Zord hanger bay. Those that were aboard Break-1 saw the scattered scorch marks and torn underbelly of the Pink Crane Zord. The Silver Eagle Zord was riddled with laser-fire scratches, while the Blue Vulture appeared to have sustained structural damage of some kind. All three Winged prey Zords hung from ceiling mounted repair bays.

"Where are the other Zords?" Zack looked around.

"Destroyed," Aisha replied as she cradled her sore wrist. "All of them. There were complications in the mission and... As sarcastic as this might sound, trust me, its not. We destroyed the moon too."

Zack, Adam, and Trini shared the same expression of shock and awe as Zordon began explaining the unbelievable details of all that transpired tonight. Though the Rangers won, no one who saw them right now would think so. They were emotionally crippled by the losses they suffered as each team detailed the events that led to Rocky and Katherine's death.

What more could they say?

Death was inevitable, but maybe the years and victories had piled up to the point where they never truly expected to face this day. To face death. To face the loss of their teammates forever. There would be no victory dinner at the Youth Center tonight. No round of Smoothies while celebrating yet another victory, added to their undefeated streak. No, their immediate future included two gut-wrenching funerals and a world of change to come. Two families were about to receive the worse news possible, and neither would ever know the real truth.

Conspiracies, however distasteful, had their place. This was such a time.

The dedicated men and women... the courageous soldiers... the Rangers grieved as they listened to their leader express his sincere regret for their loss, and deepest appreciation for their courage under tremendous odds.

"YOU ARE THE BEST OF THE BEST... THE FINEST RANGER TEAM I HAVE EVER HAD THE PRIVLEDGE OF SERVING WITH. BE PROUD OF WHAT YOU HAVE ACCOMPLISHED THIS NIGHT, AND REST ASSURED WE WILL HONOR OUR FALLEN. NONE WILL BE FORGOTTEN."

This wasn't Zordon's War Room. This was a chilly hanger bay that they all sat on, de-morphed, sharing tales of what happened up there.

Trini ached from the burden of losing so much more than any of them knew. Her heart was broken, and now she knew the bitter truth. Even vengeance didn't kill the pain. It only made it hurt worse as she thought of the lovely woman who had stolen her heart in private, and yet made it soar to heights it never had before. But the ugly sound of her blaster discharging would forever haunt her. The light of Katherine's beautiful blue eyes faded as she was killed by the woman she loved.

The Yellow Ranger wasn't sure how she would ever make peace with what happened.

Adam held Aisha against his side as she sobbed softly into his shoulder. He tried thinking about Rocky being dead, but the reality just hadn't set in yet. Rocky was dead... it just didn't make sense to him. And what of his big family? What do they possibly tell them? He considered that they didn't even have a body to give to his parents to bury. And he'd lost his very best friend in all the world.

Being the senior member of the team, Billy calmly rose to his feet first, feeling the need to marshal the troops. "Guys, as much as it pains me to say this, we're not done yet." He went on to explain, "The Moon's destruction set off a chain reaction of deadly weather-related events all around the globe. Zordon has, for the duration of this current disaster agreed to allow us to work with the U.N. in utilizing our teleportation systems to clear rubble and debris, rescue trapped civilians, remove floor waters and whatever else we can do to save lives world-wide. But we're going to need every able body to pull this off."

Billy continued addressing the team. "Look, I know we're all dead on our feet. Our darkest night might be over, but in the light of day we have to go back to work. The world needs us. Its unfair, but it is what it is."

Broken, beaten, emotionally crushed and uncertain, the Rangers stood one by one with Billy. Zordon anointed the Blue Ranger as their interim leader, and as the team outstretched their hands in a small circle, they shouted as one...

"ITS MORPHING TIME!"

Thus began a new day.

**The End**

**This universe will continue in the sequel to "The Darkest Night" called "The Light of Day." Coming soon.**


End file.
